The Reign of Wrath
by DarkNovelist1217
Summary: It all ends here. Three months after AGOS, factions have formed across the worlds, all of which are battling for the core of the multiverse to gain the ultimate power. Amidst these factions are heroes and villains whose impact on the war stands above all others, and will determine the fate of all worlds. Be it good, evil, or pure revenge, only one will win. Violence, language. Pt 4
1. Prolouge

**The Reign of Wrath**

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**Prologue**

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**The Otherworld, moments after the declaration of war…**

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The sky was alight with hellfire, that night when the apocalypse began. White Steel Wrath, a foe many believed to be destroyed forever, had returned. What was more, the fiendish other-self had usurped Marluxia, a nobody who for four months had held the very multiverse in his grasp, only to have it all come crashing down upon him. Now that Wrath had returned to power, he revealed to the people of the worlds what the previous overseer had kept a secret. Shining brightly even from a great distance, was the core of the multiverse, the source of all creation. While the other-self and his forces were the closest to the ultimate power, they were still a long ways away from controlling it. Now that war had been declared, it was only a matter of time before other groups began seeking the core for their own purposes. Some would desire its power to claim the throne of god, some would use it in the pursuit of justice, and some would seek it for nothing more than a desire for chaos. But at that moment, there were some who did not seek any of these. Hisana Takanashi, accompanied by her friends Axel and Roxas, her angelic counterpart Valkyrie, and her newly instated relatives Yuu Koutari and White Rock Shooter, all had but one thing on their minds: the current condition of newly weds Evelyn and Shinzo Koutari. Mere moments before the declaration, a tremendous pillar of blue hellfire exploded towards the heavens, followed immediately by a cry of agony that could be heard across the world. The group of six had immediately recognized the owner of the cry as Evelyn, and with deep worry in their hearts, they set out to find the demoness. Upon reaching the remains of a great and shining fortress that had once belonged to the Koutari family, they found Evelyn standing in what was once her room, with Shinzo lying dead in her arms. Green/black blood that had once belonged to the younger of the pair covered the room, and a silver handgun with spent rounds could be seen next to a large scorch mark. Just as the first six were coming to terms with what lay before them, the pair of Kurai Shosetsuka, a sword smith and warrior, and Tsuyo-sa Irino, half-sister to Evelyn, entered. Like the group before them, the pair were horrified at what they saw. Evelyn's eyes were downcast as an aura of blue hellfire raged around her.

"Shinzo..." Hisana whispered.

"Evelyn nee-chan..." Tsuyo-sa muttered.

Shocked and concerned at the sight of her daughter, and being the only one in the room capable of withstanding the hellfire, Yuu rushed forward.

"Evelyn! Oh god, what happened?" the elder demoness asked.

Her daughter's head raised slightly. **"Father...is that you?" **

Yuu, along with everyone else, started at the tone of her voice.

"Yes, yes my little girl, it's me. I've finally come back to you." then, turning toward Shinzo. "But, it seems I came too late..."

Though they could not see her eyes, everyone saw a flood of tears begin to stream down the younger woman's face.

**"They took her...the one I loved most...they took her away from me..."**

Rage overtaking reason, Yuu put her hands on her daughter's shoulder's.

"Who did this? Who killed Shinzo?"

"It was Alucard..." Kurai spoke suddenly.

All but Evelyn turned toward the sword smith, who was currently holding the handgun that had been on the floor. Kurai had a look of enormous guilt upon his face. _I never should have told him...I should've known he'd go this far to prevent the apocalypse..._

"It was Alucard, wasn't it?"

Evelyn grit her teeth and tightened her grip. **"Yes...he killed her...he killed our Shinzo...he was afraid of her...afraid of our child...so he took her away from us..."**

Now everyone turned toward the demoness. "Us?"

**"She was everything to us...without Shinzo, Evelyn can no longer love...without Shinzo, she can no longer forgive...without Shinzo..." **Evelyn looked up, revealing a pair of burning blue eyes with ringed irises. **"There is no more reason to hold me back."**

All the room's occupants now looked at the tan demoness in fear in place of worry.

_**"Her eyes...she's an other-self?!"**_inquired White.

"No way...how is that possible?!" added Axel.

Yuu met her daughter's gaze with disbelief. "E-Evelyn?"

The younger woman's face conveyed no emotion, but her eyes were filled to the brim with a seemingly endless hatred.

**"Both of you are correct. This body belongs to Evelyn Koutari, but it is also inhabited by me, her other-self, Strife. We shared the same body, and so we shared the same heart. I shared everything with her...love...friendship...joy..." **her gaze seemed to darken. **"Anger...loss...and more than anything else: pain. Pain from your words that cut like knives...pain from being alienated by you simply because of who she was...pain from loving another, but never being loved back...pain from finally finding acceptance, finally looking forward to a better life, then having it all taken away in the blink of an eye!"**

With each word she spoke, the aura around Strife increased in size and fury. The woman's emotionless expression contorted to one of absolute rage.

**"Both she and I have had enough of pain! Humans, vampires, it matters not who you are. All of you have hurt Evelyn, all of you have cast her aside, all of you have always seen her as nothing more than a monster! Nothing more than a sad, jealous, worthless girl who doesn't belong! And why? Because of her name, her heritage, her loved ones, even her child! You hated her simply because she existed! Never, not even once has anyone outside her family loved her! The only thing anyone has ever given her is hatred and pain! And because of that, both Evelyn and Shinzo have ceased to exist! I am all that remains of her will, and so I will avenge her and our beloved!"**

Strife backed away from the others.

**"Astaroth!"**

At her command, a large muscular demon man with horns and a tail similar to Strife appeared behind her.

**"You rang, little sis?"** he said in a deep and commanding voice.

**"The time has finally come. Mankind and all who exist beside them refuse to accept me, no matter how hard I try. They believe that the offspring of me and my beloved, who now lies dead in my arms, will grow to become the destroyer of worlds. If death and destruction is the only thing they expect of me, then I shall be more than happy to answer their demands. I will raise their cities to the ground, and I will slaughter their insolent hides without remorse. If the power proposed by that madman is true, then I will take it and create a new world for our kind, one where Shinzo and I can finally live in peace. I will have her back, I will not allow my child to be fatherless. Will you join me in my cause?"**

Astaroth smiled madly. **"With pleasure, dear sister."**

Strife then turned to Yuu, who was still shocked beyond recognition at how much her daughter had fallen into despair.

**"Father, if you truly do love me, then stand with me, and help me get Shinzo back. What say you?"**

Yuu went into thought. She had prayed time after time that the girl wouldn't end up like her, alone and driven to the point of massacre and death. But it had been worse than that. Yuu's hatred had stemmed from her unrequited love toward Mato, which she knew would never be returned. But although Evelyn's love had also been unrequited, she had finally managed to not only convey her true feelings, but also have them answered. Then, when all seemed well, Evelyn lost everything. Her true love, and the father of the child growing within her, were taken away. As much as she hated to admit it, Strife's words were true. For both her and Evelyn, hatred and pain had been the only things that comprised their lives for so very long. Still unsure, but determined to help her daughter in any way she could, the elder demoness stepped through the hellfire to stand beside Strife.

"I...I will help you. I want my little girl to be happy again, I don't want her to suffer anymore. Please, promise me that when it's all over you'll give her back."

Strife nodded. **"Once her anger is satisfied, then I will relinquish all control."****  
**

_**"Yuu!" **_White cried out.

The elder demoness turned to see the other-self staring at her through the barrier of hellfire with fear filled eyes.

"White..."

_**"Are you going away? Are you leaving me all alone again?"**_

Yuu paused, then turned back to her daughter.

"I'm sorry, White. I would take you with me, but I fear what people would think of you if you joined us."

_**"I don't care what other people think! I just want you to stay with**** me!"**_

"When its over, I will be by your side once more. And you're not alone." she turned to face White. "You still have Hisana and Valkyrie to look after. They're your family, and they need you more than you need me right now."

As the elder demoness turned towards her daughter again, she quickly mouthed _'forgive me' _to the other-self. Strife then laid Shinzo's body at her feet and raised her hands.

**"As for the rest of you, begone from this world! From _my_ world!"**

The hellfire raging around the three demons intensified, and the fortress began to repair itself and spread further across the world, causing everyone else to retreat. However, despite the danger Kurai and Hisana remained behind. The sword smith summoned all the willpower he could not to cry out from the burns forming on his body as he took a step forward.

"Your anger is misguided! If there is anyone you should hate, it is me! I was the one who first learned of the prophecy regarding Shinzo's offspring and told Alucard! It's my fault, so if you just punish someone, then let your anger out on me!" he said.

Strife shot him a glance of rage. Aside from the pain, the sword smith smirked internally. _Good, she's directing her anger towards me. If she kills me, then not only will I have paid for my failure, but it will also eliminate Wrath. _However, a killing blow never came. Instead, Strife merely blew the sword smith back.

**"Fool, like I'd give you the satisfaction. ****In six months time, my child will be born.** You will live to witness the price for your actions, and watch as my child burns the world to the ground. Now, away with you." 

Sending forth a stronger blast this time, Kurai was blown away from the fortress. Strife then turned to Hisana, who to her surprise had made it farther than the sword smith, and without so much as a scratch. Inching toward her step by step, focusing the freezing power of her zanpakutou to keep herself from burning, the vampiress approached the tan demoness.

"Evelyn, Strife, whichever you are, is this really what you want?" she demanded. "I know Shinzo meant everything to you, it was my fault for not seeing it sooner, but is destruction really what you want? I know Shinzo wouldn't want this, and I'm sure you don't either, Evelyn. Please, just stop before you do something no one will forgive. I know it hurts, and that's why I'll help you feel better. Just please, don't become a monster. I'm your friend, so let me help you."

Hisana was now a few feet in front of Strife, and was awaiting the tan woman's response. Strife stared at the vampiress for a moment. Then, without warning, she reached out and tightly gripped Hisana by the throat.

**"You really think that I give a fuck about what you think?"** she said with a glare.** "Shinzo wouldn't want this? You know it hurts? You're my friend, so you'll help me? Bullshit! You never knew how she felt! You never knew how your own sister felt! Everything has always been perfect for you! You have no fucking idea how badly it hurts to live this kind of life! To lose everything!"**

Strife then called her own zanpakutou to her free hand, and pointed one end toward Hisana's chest.

**"I cannot explain the pain anymore than I already have, so instead I will give you a sample of what it feels like!"**

The vampiress cried out in anguish as hellfire tipped blades dug into her flesh. A few moments later, and a pair of long and jagged scars had been carved from below her left breast to the right of her collarbone, then up her neck, under her chin, and up her left cheek, finally coming to an end just under her left eye.

**"Remember this well, you little bitch. If you ever cross me again, I will destroy you. Now, get out of my sight!"**

With that, Strife threw the vampiress as hard as she could.

Hisana cringed as the still fresh wounds tormented her through her long flight away from the fortress. In the days to come, she knew there would be many more scars to gain, and many more enemies to fight. Still, despite the overwhelming despair over the loss of her sister and her best friend, one single resolution came about. _I promise, n__o matter what happens, I will save her. I'll save her, and I'll bring back Shinzo. It's time to put all this madness to an end. _Resigned to her goal, the vampiress closed her eyes and waited for her landing. Somehow, despite her resolution, she felt that the true madness was only just beginning. Now the entire multiverse was determined to gain the ultimate power. Only this time, the winner would decide the fate of the very multiverse itself.

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**A/N: **The beginning of the end has finally come. This will be the final part to the Blademaster series (Game of Blades, Of Blood and Tears, A Game of Sorrows, etc.), so I'd like to take some time to thank everyone who's stuck with me throughout all these crazy adventures. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be writing. I don't intend to make this one as long as the previous two. Hell, it might not even make 10 chapters (excluding prologue). Regardless, I will strive to make this story as good as I possibly can. As always, if you have any questions or comments please leave them in a review or pm. Till next time! DarkNovelist out.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Sojourn**

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**Pandora, three months later…**

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_**Mato**_

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I awoke to the light of the sun shining in my eyes, something I would normally get rid of by closing the blinds, but seeing as how my current living space had windows that were always open, mostly likely due to the fact it was in the equivalent of a slum, there wasn't much I could do besides get up and prepare myself for another long and trying day.

Just over three months ago, I had mysteriously returned to life. However, I did not return in the same condition as when I had passed. In my previous life, I had been one of the three women who comprised the girl known to many as Ebony. However, now I am no longer part of that fusion, and so I once again took the name of Mato Kuroi. Rukia Kuchiki, another person who had formed Ebony, was resurrected alongside me. However, it seems she has no memory of her time when we were fused. She keeps wondering how I am able to even see her, considering she's a spiritual being, and refuses to believe that we were once the same person, or that we married and had children. Rukia wanted to return to her home in the Soul Society, and despite my warnings of what she would find there, left me behind in Karakura Town. Unsure of whether I should wait for her return, I decided to head over to the house I had lived in as Ebony. Since the multiverse always seemed to be a dangerous place, I took a wooden training sword to defend myself. Not the best choice of weaponry, but for now it was better than nothing. Not longer after I left the house, Rukia returned. Just as I had feared, she was devastated after learning she was, as far as she knew, the only soul reaper left alive.

"You said before that you knew of me and the Soul Society." She said, trembling with eyes downcast.

I nodded, knowing what she was about to ask and fearing her reaction.

"Tell me…who was it that destroyed my home? Who was it that massacred my friends and family?"

"It was a dark knight by the name of Nightmare. He slaughtered the soul reapers, and so in turn you slaughtered him."

"I see, so he is dead then."

Still trembling, Rukia collapsed to her knees. I ran to her side in alarm. Horror and uncertainty filled the swordswoman's eyes to the brim, and she turned toward me in tears.

"What am I supposed to do now? I have no home, no friends, no family, no purpose. I have nothing!"

I paused for a moment, then stared straight into her eyes. "You do have a family, two beautiful girls who dearly miss their mother. I don't know where they are right now, but something tells me they need you now more than ever. Let's start with getting you back to them."

Rukia's expression softened a bit, but she still seemed unsure. Knowing she needed the comfort, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

"Don't worry, you won't be alone. I'll stick with you every step of the way. We're friends, aren't we?"

It took the swordswoman a moment to register my words, but when she did I felt her return the embrace.

"Yes…I'd like that. I'm still not certain if everything you've been telling me is true, but if it gives me purpose, then I will seek out these children."

And so for the next three months we traveled across the worlds in search of Hisana and Shinzo. During our travels, I began to notice drastic changes in the multiverse. On several occasions, both Rukia and I had been forced to deal with hordes of strange creatures that seemed to be made solely from darkness. Rukia told me the reiatsu she felt from the creatures reminded her a lot of hollows, and considering the fact that they all had this strange marking on them somewhere on their body, I don't blame her. Luckily for me, when we passed through a city called Minas Tirith, I was able to get my hands on a real sword. I got it at just the right time too, because just then a whole bunch of the dark creatures showed up, along with some weird people in black cloaks. As if that wasn't enough, a swarm of demons suddenly arrived on the lower levels of the city and started to attack everything in sight, including the creatures and cloaked figures. During all the chaos, Rukia and I decided to make a run for it. Since then, attacks from both demons and the other creatures have become more frequent. It's almost as if they've taken a sudden interest in the two of us, and wanted us dead. A whole lot of running and fighting later, and we wound up taking refuge here on Pandora, in a small town called Sanctuary. Today I'm going to speak with a woman named Lilith, and hopefully I'll learn something regarding the whereabouts of my children.

"Hisana and Shinzo Takanashi?" she said.

I nodded. "Yes. Do you know anything about them?"

"Well, that depends. Can you afford to hear what I know?"

I sighed. Honestly, I should have expected she'd want something after living here for a few weeks. I reached into my travel bag and pulled out a medium sized pouch full of a valuable ore called Eridium. Lilith immediately tore the pouch from my hand and shoved it into her own bag in practically the blink of an eye.

"So, the Takanashi siblings right?"

"Yes, what do you know about them?"

"From what I heard, they're the daughters of those two chicks who saved the multiverse a while back. I'm afraid I don't know jack about Shinzo, but I've heard Hisana is a natural at spear fighting. She's supposedly a high ranking officer in the EOT."

I raised an eyebrow. "EOT?"

"The Enforcers of Truth. What, you never heard of them? They're a bigshot group of fanatics devoted to securing the Core for peacekeeping purposes. Right now they're at war with two other big factions who also want the Core. Personally, I've had enough of big godly extraterrestrial contraptions."

"That's…interesting. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Hmm, well there is this rumor going around that she's a vampire. Guess she's not such a goody two-shoes after all huh? Anyway, the last I heard of her she was on her way back to the EOT's main base in Windbloom."

I perked up at the word 'Windbloom'. "Really? Are you certain that's where she's headed? When did you hear about this?"

"Just a few days ago. Geez, calm down shorty. Why is she so important? You got a bone to pick with her or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Just an old friend wanting to get back together."

Despite the very blatant disregard of morals on this planet, I figured people would still find it odd if someone like me said they were a mother. I thanked Lilith for the info, then went back to where Rukia and I were staying. I found the soul reaper still sound asleep, snoring lightly with her arms protectively clutching a pillow to her chest. I smiled at the sight and went to make us some breakfast. Thank god they still have decent food on this crazy planet. After we ate, I told Rukia about my findings. She was a little unnerved when I mentioned the vampire part, but seemed to calm down once I explained that it was more hereditary than choice, and that Hisana was the exact opposite of a heartless killer. Once everything had been properly explained, we decided to head to Windbloom to follow up on the lead. Just as we were about to leave Sanctuary, an alarm suddenly went off. A group of figures clad in black cloaks appeared atop the town walls, each bearing different kinds of weapons. Their leader, a woman by their body shape, directed the others to attack. As the cloaked figures began to attack everything in sight, Rukia and I made a run for it. Unfortunately, the leader of the group spotted us and jumped in front of the exit.

"And just where do you think you're going?" she said in a commanding tone.

I drew my sword, and Rukia did the same.

"This isn't our fight! We don't have anything to do with you! Move aside!" I tried.

"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong. Nobody is exempt from this war, not even you, Mato Kuroi. And especially not you, Rukia Kuchiki."

Rukia narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Who are you? How do you know our names?"

"The superior informed me that the two of you are to be eliminated with extreme prejudice. I do not know what you did to anger him so…"

The cloaked woman pulled down her hood, and summoned a blue halberd to her hands.

"But by my rank as No. 4, I, Akaxi will destroy you!"

I gasped at the sight of the woman's face. Beneath her hood, she had short dark hair, and orange eyes that seemed to glow with ferocity. It was the face of someone both Rukia and I knew very well.

"Queen…Kaia?" I said.

The woman shot me a look of angry confusion. "Who is Kaia? I told you, I am Akaxi! Stop playing games with me and die!"

Akaxi sprang forward at great speed, and I was barely able to stop the long blade from skewering me. Rukia came to my aid and swung at the spear wielder. Akaxi reflexively ducked under the strike and backflipped away. Readying her halberd, she charged forward and did a series of lightning fast thrusts at both me and Rukia. I could feel cuts form on my arms and sides, and found myself falling onto my back. Rukia was still standing, though injured. Holding her sword horizontally, the swordswoman began to chant.

"Dance! Sode no Shiraiyuki!" (sleeve of white snow)

At her command, Rukia's sword became a beautiful pure white, with a long white ribbon trailing from the hilt. Quickly, she stabbed four points on the ground in front of her, causing them to radiate white energy. Rukia then held her sword in a thrust position.

"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!" (second dance, white ripple)

A wave of ice and snow burst from her sword toward Akaxi. The spear wielder was unprepared for such an attack, and desperately held her halberd in a defensive stance. The wave collided, and when the dust settled Akaxi was frozen in place. Realizing from the loud crackling of ice that our opponent wouldn't be stuck for long, we ran out the gates of Sanctuary. Fortunately, the transporter to other worlds wasn't that far away. Just before the swarm of cloaked figures could reach us, I set the transporter to self-destruct, and jumped through with Rukia.

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**On the other side…**

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When we emerged from the portal, we were somewhere in the vast deserts of Earl. Standing up and brushing the sand off of my face, I took a look at our surroundings. We had landed on an enormous cliff face that served as the borderline between Earl and the Otherworld. Even though it had been three years, I still remembered this place well. I could still see remnants of my great battle with Nightmare in the form of craters and partially frozen pieces of giant armor. I heard a clinking of metal as I stepped forward, and looked down. Resting beneath my feet, half buried by the desert sands, was a small cluster of bullets. _That's right…I had to use everything I had to beat him…_ I glanced over at Rukia. _'We' had to use everything to beat him. _The soul reaper dusted herself before walking over to me. At seeing the armor fragments at the base of the cliff, she narrowed her eyes, not in anger, but in unsure recollection.

"This place…it feels familiar somehow…" Rukia turned toward me. "Something happened here…something important…right?"

I nodded. "This is where we confronted Nightmare. This is where we killed him."

Our reminiscing was cut short by a sudden rumbling sound coming from the base of the cliff. I ran over and looked down. Something dark with really big arms was rapidly climbing up towards us. Before either of us could make a move, the thing did a superhuman leap from its place on the cliff, over both of us, and onto the ground behind us. Turning around with our swords ready, we waited for the dust from the thing's impact to settle.

"You know, there are nicer ways to say hello than pointing a sword at someone." said a kind and familiar voice.

I lowered my weapon as a pair of luminescent amber eyes emerged through the dust. "No way...could it be...Strength?"

A friendly smile attached to a tan young face with a head of short snow white hair was my response. "It's been a long time, Mato."

Strength fully emerged from the dust cloud, clad in her usual black hoodie and knee high boots, with her vertebrae like tail still swishing back and forth from her waist. Her gargantuan arms were as intimidating as ever, considering that they were the size of her entire body. Putting away my sword, I rushed forward and hugged the short girl. Being as gentle as possible with her large arms, my friend returned the embrace. Rukia stared at the two of us in confusion, unsure whether or not to sheathe her weapon.

"Ah, that's right. You may not remember her, Rukia, but this is our old friend Strength." I explained.

"N-nice to meet you." the soul reaper answered, still confused.

"Huh? She doesn't remember me?" inquired Strength.

"No, it seems that somehow when we were brought back, we split apart again. I remember everything from when we were Ebony, but Rukia seems to have a bad case of amnesia. She can't recall anything that happened past fighting hollows with Ichigo."

"I see..."

"That aside, what are you doing here? Didn't you leave when Yuu passed on?"

"I did, but like you, something has brought us back to life. Well, initially it was Yuu who returned, but something happened recently that caused her heart great pain. Therefore, I have been resurrected as well."

A feeling of worry went through me at this as I recalled what happened the last time Strength's other half had undergone immense emotional trauma.

"Oh no...don't tell me she's gone back to being Fury?"

Strength shook her head. "I'm not sure. When I came back, I was about a mile away from here, in some random corner of the Otherworld. Before I could try to understand what was going on, this huge monster showed up out of nowhere and attacked me. It chased me all the way to this cliff, and I managed to give ti the slip by climbing up."

"Hold on, the monster chased you here? Then, that rumbling we heard earlier-"

I was cut short by a loud hiss from the cliff edge. We all turned to see first one, then two, and then four humongous snake heads clad in shimmering white scales rise over the edge, followed by a long tail. The source of the rumbling had not been Strength, instead it was a giant four headed Hydra. The hydra let out a crescendo of roars as we readied our weapons. It tried to bite me with one head. I barely dodged the giant snake's fangs, and swung at the side of its head. To my surprise, my sword bounced straight off its scales. I jumped back as a second head went for me, and watched Strength fire a burst of gunfire at the hydra. Like with my sword, the metal projectiles bounced harmlessly off the hydra. Rukia sent her sword into shikai form and prepared to launch a wave of ice and snow.

"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!"

At her command, the cold torrent was unleashed on the hydra. At first we thought the attack had carried the same effect it had when it was used on Akaxi, as the multi-headed snake remained still under a coat of ice after being struck. We couldn't have been more wrong. Moments after being frozen, the hydra broke free from its icy bonds and renewed its lashing and biting. Strength managed to pummel one head to a pulp, only to have it regrow almost immediately after. At this rate, it would only be a manner of time before we were exhausted and wound up snake food. Just as the hydra was reeling back for another strike, a pair of flaming spiked chakrams suddenly flew past us, severing all four heads and burning the stumps that remained.

"Now, before it can regenerate!" a man's voice suddenly called out.

Before I could turn to investigate the sound, something, or rather someone jumped over me and my allies. I couldn't see their face, but whoever it was had dark hair that trailed down to the small of their back in two long curls, and was wearing a suit of white and teal battle armor and brandishing a pure white naginata. The mysterious fighter pointed their weapon towards the hydra.

"Tengoku tsume mai!" (heavenly talon dance) they shouted.

All of a sudden, I became deaf to the sounds of the world around me. I didn't hear the hydra's cries of pain as the spear fighter began to swing their weapon in dance like movements, calling down arcs of light to strike the beast at the point where all of the heads intersected. I didn't hear the cheers of the tall red haired man who caught the flaming chakrams upon entering my line of sight, and nor did I hear the explosion of hellfire that signified the hydra's death. I heard none of this, because I was too overjoyed to care. Because the voice of the fighter, who now gazed upon me with shining violet eyes as she finished her attack, was none other than my youngest daughter.

"Hisana..."

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**A/N: **Sorry if this feels a little rushed. I'm going on a two week trip to Mt. Rushmore as of Friday, so I wanted to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. I promise that the next chapter will tell you what the bloody hell is going on with the multiverse after the three month time skip. I ask that you continue to read as this finale gets underway, and don't forget to review! Till next time! DarkNovelist out. *flies away on a dragon with cerberus heads*


	3. Chapter 2

***A dragon-cerberus hybrid flies over a small one story house, dropping off the devilishly handsome warrior and writer DarkNovelist, who enters his home with blood on his armor and his trusty sword and bow of Ethersbane at his side***

**DN: whew! What a long and exciting journey that was. I thought for sure I would meet my end at the hands of all those obnoxious childlike monsters. Alright, let's get this show on the road!**

***P.S: This may or may not be a one time thing.**

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**Chapter 2: The Changed World**

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**Windbloom, sometime later…**

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_**Mato**_

* * *

I sighed as I lay on my bed. The faint feeling of tearstains hang on my cheeks, one of the many times that came about as a result of all the information that I had obtained in the past few hours.

It started back when we had just defeated the hydra. At first I was overjoyed to see my youngest daughter's smiling face, but the joy turned to concern once I noticed the gruesome scars that ran down her cheek and disappeared somewhere further beneath her body armor. Before I could ask her about it, she asked me to identify myself, reminding me that she had never seen my face until this moment. It was a little awkward explaining to her that I and the still amnesiac Rukia were parts of the woman called Ebony, whom she knew as her mother, but it became less so when she explained to us that she had wished Ebony back to life. However, for some reason all of the people who made up Ebony had become separated, one of which was my friend Yuu Koutari, whose soul had been inside my body before my demise, and had thus become a part of me. Hearing that made Strength's sudden appearance make a lot more sense, as well as my and Rukia's current position. Hisana then introduced me to Axel, a handsome young man who had been traveling with her for quite some time now, and much to my surprise (well not really, considering the way they were blushing at this point), was currently dating her. The young man seemed nice enough, and he had helped us defeat the hydra, so I figured I could trust him. Although, I can't help but feel a little concerned at how close he was to my daughter, and whether or not they had done anything bold without my knowledge. As the five of us made our way back to Windbloom, I decided to ask Hisana about her scars. I saw her tense up and stroke the twin lines with a trembling hand.

"It was…Evelyn…she gave these to me." she answered in little more than a whisper.

Both Strength and my eyes widened in surprise at this.

"Evelyn? As in Evelyn Koutari? Yuu's daughter?" I said.

Hisana nodded.

"But she was such a sweet girl, why would she do such a thing?" Strength added, equally confused.

My daughter's eyes went downcast. "It's all my fault…she was hurting for so long, and it was all because of me. If only I had seen it sooner…if only I had realized how she felt…how Shinzo felt…"

I perked up at the mention of my oldest daughter. "Wait, this has something to do with Shinzo? And speaking of which, where is your sister?"

There was a long pause. "Nee-chan…she won't be coming back. Not ever."

"What are you- no, please don't tell me she's…?"

Hisana nodded grimly. "The reason Evelyn did this to me is the same reason why you won't be seeing nee-chan again. This isn't going to be easy for me to say, but you deserve to know the truth. Shinzo was in love with me, in a way that siblings should not be."

She paused as I gasped.

"But she knew that I wouldn't accept her feelings so long as she was my sister, so she left to compete in Marluxia's tournament to find a way to change her bloodline. But while she was away, I met Axel, and he became good friends with me and Evelyn. As the two of us got closer, I couldn't help but notice that Evelyn was becoming more and more nervous about something, though she wouldn't tell me why. Then, when we entered the Otherworld, nee-chan came back..."

Hisana stopped dead in her tracks then, and hugged her sides as a fearful shiver traveled through her at what I could only guess were painful memories. Axel rushed to her side and put his hands comfortingly on her shoulders.

"Hisana, it's okay, you don't have to continue." he said in a soothing voice.

My daughter shook her head at him. "No, I'm fine. I have to tell someone, otherwise it'll never let me be." she took a deep breath before continuing. "Nee-chan came back, only she was different. Somehow, she had changed her bloodline, and was now a part of the Koutari family. She revealed her feelings for me, and I rejected her. I could tell from the look in her eyes how desperate she was to hear me say yes, and I knew that I was hurting her by telling her no. She was so upset by my rejection that she…she…"

I feared what she would say next. "What did Shinzo do?"

"She…tried to rape me."

A dead silence fell over us. The revelation was so shocking that I just couldn't believe it. My oldest girl tried to force herself onto my youngest girl? Even if she was horribly hurt by Hisana's rejection, something like that should not have happened. Despite her trembling, Hisana stood up straight and continued to walk.

"Yes, Shinzo tried to force herself on me. However, she stopped when I told her that I hated her. Nee-chan let go of me, and seemed to regain her senses, just before she started crying."

She paused again.

"I wanted to be angry at her, but she just looked so sad…she told me she never wanted it to happen that way, that she had promised to never force her feelings on me. I tried to talk to her so I could understand, but she ran away saying she'd never come back. While Axel tried to comfort me, Evelyn slapped him and ran after nee-chan. Just before she left, she revealed the secrets she had been keeping from me all this time. One was that she knew how Shinzo felt about me, and the other…"

Hisana gave an expression of immense guilt, and didn't look capable of continuing.

"The other secret was that Evelyn had been in love with Shinzo. Because she knew how obsessed Shinzo was with Hisana, Evelyn deeply hated her, even though she never showed it." Axel finished for her.

My daughter looked like she was about to cry. "I'm her best friend, and I never knew how she really felt about me and nee-chan. I've caused her so much pain…I'm the worst…"

To my surprise, Rukia stepped forward and hugged her. Hisana looked over at the soul reaper in surprise and confusion.

"I'm not entirely sure about what's going on, but I am certain about one thing. You have done nothing wrong, you weren't aware of how they felt, so you couldn't have possibly known whether or not you were hurting them." Rukia said in a maternal tone.

Hisana paused for a moment in uncertainty, then let a small smile spread over her lips.

"I appreciate the thought, but I still regret not being able to see the truth before it was too late. After Evelyn ran after Shinzo, we went looking for them, and wound up in a part of the Otherworld that was made from Shinzo's emotions. There we met Gaia Knight, her other-self, and Valkyrie, my other-self. We fought them, but they were too strong for us."

"Well, that and I couldn't possibly hurt someone with your cute little face." Axel commented.

Hisana chuckled lightly. "Just when we were about to lose, we were rescued by Aunt Yuu and White Rock Shooter. We interrogated Gaia, and found out that she had been the one that had forced nee-chan into trying to rape me against her will."`

I let out a sigh of relief at that. _Thank god, so Shinzo really hadn't intended any harm on Hisana. I still don't approve of such feelings, but I feel a little better knowing that my oldest wasn't willing to hurt her younger sister in pursuit of her desires. _But what did she mean by White Rock Shooter and 'Aunt' Yuu?

"Aunt Yuu then told us that Evelyn and Shinzo had gotten married-although how they did that so quickly remains a mystery to me-and that Evelyn was now pregnant with their child. Apparently the two of them planned to run away together and live in peace, and even though I was sad at the idea of being unable to apologize to nee-chan, I was happy for them. Evelyn finally had her feelings returned, and nee-chan was with someone who truly loved her. Then, something happened, something that caused Evelyn to lose control of herself, something that drove Shinzo out of our lives forever."

Hisana took a deep breath before turning toward me. I could already tell what she was going to say, and felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes.

"Nee-chan was killed, right in front of Evelyn. When we found them, Evelyn was holding her dead body in her arms, crying and surrounded by fire. Tsuyo-sa and a man called Kurai Shosetsuka joined us in that room, and shared our sadness."

"Wait, did you say Kurai Shosetsuka?" I interjected.

Hisana nodded. "Yes, the same man who gave you Achreios. With his help, we found out that someone named Alucard was responsible for killing nee-chan, all because of some stupid prophecy about her child becoming the destroyer of worlds. Evelyn was devastated, and somehow Strife, her other-self, took over her body and declared war on all of the multiverse. Aunt Yuu went to join her, and then she tried to blow us all away. I tried to stay and talk to her, to help her get through her pain. But she wouldn't listen, she was too enraged at losing Shinzo. She branded me with these, told me she'd kill me the next time we met, then sent me flying."

I took a moment to let it all sink in, crying softly as I did so. So much had happened while I was gone…so many hardships had befallen my children. I had known about Kurai's prophecy, but never believed it would actually come true. The sword smith must have felt incredibly guilty for what had happened, to say nothing of how guilty Hisana must have felt. My oldest daughter was dead, and now the newest addition to my family was mad with rage and sorrow. Poor Evelyn, if she really did love Shinzo like Hisana said, then I could only pray that she wouldn't end up like her father. Or worse, if her child would turn out to be the bringer of destruction as was foretold. Through tear filled eyes, I looked back at Hisana. My daughter had her fists clenched and her gaze turned skyward.

"I'm glad she gave me these scars. Compared to the pain Evelyn has endured, I have lived a good life. The scars on my body remind me of what I must do now. I have to find a way to bring Shinzo back, I have to save Evelyn. I don't want there to be any more pain. I just want us them to live in peace. That's why I joined the EOT, so that when we secure the Core, I can fix everything." she said with determination.

Despite the tremendous amount of sad news I had just heard, I couldn't help but feel proud of how grown up my daughter seemed. Axel put a hand on her shoulder and gave a nod of approval, and we continued on our way. Soon enough, we arrived at the gates of Windbloom. Waiting there for us was a large contingent of soldiers wearing similar armor to Hisana, only their armor was almost completely white and lacked the teal plating that hers had. A man clad in thuggish clothing carrying a short cross shaped sword stepped forward from the crowd of soldiers. He smirked at the sight of Axel and Hisana.

"Welcome back, Commander Takanashi." he said in a laid back tone. "It seems that yet again you've brought along some interesting friends."

"More interesting than you realize, Captain Zwei." my daughter responded.

"I'll take your word for it. Well, don't let me keep you. His highness is waiting to hear your report."

The man called Zwei signaled for the gate to be opened, and we headed inside.

"Commander?" I asked in surprise.

Hisana glanced away nervously. "A lot happens in three months. It seems that people hold me in even higher regard than they used to."

"Well what did you expect? You've won the most battles for us against the Agents and the Covies." Axel noted.

"Agents? Covies? What are you talking about?" I said.

"Oh that's right, I forgot to mention them. They're the other two large groups fighting over control of the Core. One of is called the Agents of Wrath, they're an army of nobodies and heartless lead by none other than White Steel Wrath. The other is the giant swarm of monster and demons known as the Cobalt Covenant."

"And who leads them?"

Axel paused for a moment. Before he could answer, Hisana spoke up.

"The Cobalt Covenant is lead by Evelyn. She's their queen, according to what we've heard." my daughter spoke, not looking back at us.

The rest of the walk to the newly instated command center was silent. Axel stopped us at the foot of the stairs.

"You know, why don't I deliver the report to the king? I'm sure your mom and her friends are tired, so go ahead and rest at home, okay?" he offered.

"Thanks, I'll see you later then." Hisana responded.

Axel bade us farewell, and we headed to a complex of buildings located near the palace, where the royal family lived. Standing outside the complex was a young woman around my height who looked to be in her mid-twenties, with chestnut brown hair and deep crimson eyes. She looked very familiar, but just before I could recall her name she took notice of our group and started making a mad dash for Strength.

"Father!" she cried as she took the other-self into a tight bear hug.

Strength looked at the girl in surprised joy before putting away her giant arms and returning the hug. Tears ran down her face as she tightened the embrace.

"Tsuyo-sa…" she said quietly.

"You finally came back…I'm so happy…" responded Tsuyo-sa.

"Yes, I'm back. And this time I plan on staying. I missed you so much, my daughter."

Now I remembered. The young woman was Tsuyo-sa Irino, Strength and Saya's little girl. Strength had died along with Yuu before Tsuyo-sa was born, and so the two had never had the chance to meet. At least, not until the girl had entered the mysterious place known as the Monastery of the Lost. In there, Strength was able to visit her daughter in the form of a spirit. Now that they were reunited, they probably had a lot of catching up to do, just like me and Hisana. I knew she hadn't told me everything earlier, but I decided not to press her until after she was feeling more up for conversation. I gave Strength and understanding nod saying that we'd talk later, and followed Rukia and Hisana inside the complex. Despite looking like an apartment building, the place was actually quite luxurious, complete with large rooms built to accommodate at least three people each. After showing us where she and Axel were living, Hisana lead us to the room we would be staying in.

"White! I'm home! And I've brought guests!" she announced as we entered.

"_**Guests? Do you mean somebody besides Axel and Roxas?"**_

I froze in place at hearing the voice. It sounded very similar to Rukia's, only slightly different. I knew who the voice belonged to, and I could feel myself shaking with fear as I reached for the hilt of my sword. Around a corner leading to one of the bedrooms stepped a woman the same height as me with pale skin, white hair tied into two pigtails of uneven length, an outfit that had the opposite color scheme of BRS, and piercing red eyes. At the moment our eyes met, both me and the woman became oblivious to the presence of others. Staring back at me with an unusually peaceful expression on her face was none other than my wicked and insane other-self…

"Ivory…" I growled.

My counterpart glared at me. _**"Mato Kuroi…isn't this a surprise."**_

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"_**I just so happen to live here, and the name's White Rock Shooter now." **_

"I don't care what you call yourself! I don't how you came to this world, but I'll be glad to send you back to hell!"

"Mom, stop it!" Hisana said suddenly, standing between us. "White isn't our enemy!"

"What are you talking about? Hisana you know who she is, you know how dangerous letting her live will be! If we don't kill her now there's no telling what she'll do!"

"_**I see, so you've retained the memories of Ebony. It also seems that you've also kept her inability to see the truth in what's in front of her. You might as well put away that sword, I have no intention of fighting you." **_

I hesitated at this. For some reason, I couldn't seem to find any trace of deceit in her voice. Still, this was Ivory we were talking about, so she could just as easily be waiting for me to lower my guard. Just before I could fully draw my sword, Hisana put her hand on down on mine.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, she's changed. White saved my life, if it weren't for her I wouldn't be standing here right now. Please mom, just give her a chance." she said.

I looked at her in confusion, then at Ivory. My counterpart showed no signs of aggression, and her trademark smile had yet to appear. Reluctantly, I released my grip on my weapon and relaxed. Hisana let go and stood aside. I turned back to my counterpart.

"Don't think this means I trust you, monster. Now why are you here?"

"_**I was called back to life from Hisana's wish to reunite our family. Judging by Rukia over there, you must have realized that we're no longer part of the same person. Now that I'm free, I can make my own decisions, which is why I've changed my name to White Rock Shooter. I'd appreciate it if you'd address me by that name from now on, and hopefully you can put the past behind us and realize that I'm not working against you anymore. Since you're going to be staying here, we might as well try to get along." **_

I gave her a skeptical look. "And how can I be sure that you're not lying, and that you won't just slit my throat in my sleep?"

"_**You're alive, aren't you? If I still wanted to fight, I would have crushed you the moment you walked in here. In your current state, it would have been easy." **_

I paused for a moment to consider her words. Hisana kept glancing back and forth between us nervously, while Rukia seemed to be deep in thought, most likely trying to make sense of the situation. With a sigh, I reached my decision.

"I suppose that will do. But just remember that I won't hesitate to fight you if you show me any signs of trouble."

My counterpart smiled smugly. _**"Well I'm afraid you'll have to wait a long time for that. Now if you'll excuse me, it's getting late, and I'd very much like to finish my letter before I go to sleep."**_

"Letter? A letter to who?" I asked as she began to walk away.

I noticed her tense up at that. _**"The one person who could ever understand me." **_It was barely more than a whisper.

At that, she disappeared into her room. Hisana bade Rukia and me goodnight, and so the two of us decided to pick out our rooms and hit the hay. As I lay on my bed, the weight of everything I had learned today came down on me, and I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. Oddly enough, I thought I heard some light sobbing coming from my counterpart's room. I must have just been hearing things, there was no way that she could have just changed all of a sudden. She was up to something, she had to be, and sooner or later I was going to find out what. With that thought in mind, I slowly drifted off to sleep in preparation for what would surely be another day full of bad news.

* * *

**EOT Command Center, two days later…**

* * *

_**Nasumora**_

* * *

I stood waiting patiently inside the main hall of the command center. While I waited for the rest of the officers in my unit to arrive, I decided to make sure I looked my best for the meeting with his highness the king, so I went over to one of the many decorative mirrors in the hall. The face of a young man who looked around 17 with wavy blonde hair and emerald green eyes stared back at me. Hard to believe that I'm really only four months old. I turned my head slightly to make sure my ponytail that held the rest of my hair in place was still intact. (think Len Kagamine's hairstyle) Unfortunately, I had inherited my late father's long and unruly mane, otherwise I probably wouldn't have such a hard time getting it to behave. Normally I wasn't one to care much for looks, but in the case of seeing King Siegfried, I figured I should make myself presentable.

"Nii-san!" came a familiar voice.

I turned from the mirror to see Com. Takanashi walking my way, with her friends Axel and Roxas following close behind her. Standing up straight, I greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning, nee-san. I trust you slept well?" I said.

Hisana nodded. "For the most part. Did we keep you waiting long?"

"Not at all. I only got here about ten minutes ago."

"I see. Shall we then?"

"Of course. After you, nee-san."

Yes, that's right. The famous Hisana Takanashi, hero of the Enforcers of Truth, is my older sister. Most people think it's just because we work together a lot that we've taken to calling each other brother and sister, but that's because if the truth ever got out, it would certainly cause a huge scandal. Her father and my mother are one in the same, though she was unaware of her connection to Hisana, as she is only a copy of her father. I may be young, but I'm smarter than I look. I know that my father, Oxymi, is something called a nobody, a hollow shell that was once a person, and that she fell in love with a woman named Kagari Izuriha, someone who loved Oxymi's human self and ended up having a child with her. I am that child, and my name is Nasumora Izuriha. Despite the circumstances of my birth, Hisana has welcomed me as part of her family with open arms, even going so far as to teach me how to fight. My mother had originally been opposed to the idea of me becoming a soldier, but I felt I had to make it up to Hisana for being so kind to me, and joining the EOT was the best way to do that. Like her, I have a high resistance to pain, but instead of a zanpakutou, I can call upon my weapon and dematerialize it at will. I've proven myself to be capable enough that I've achieved the rank of Sergeant Major, but I'm still a long ways away from coming close to my sister's level. The four of us exchanged some small pleasantries before making our way to the meeting room.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," began Siegfried, who stood in the middle of the room with his large zweihander Requiem resting on his back.

"I have recently been informed that there has been a change in the enemy's movements. Reports have been coming in that state irregular behavior from both the AOW and the CC."

"What are those bastards up to now?" an officer grumbled.

Siegfried turned toward the left side of the room. "Mr. Shosetsuka, if you'd please."

Kurai stood up from his seat and approached the center of the room. "I've noticed a trend in the Agent's movements these past few weeks. They are no longer picking fights over territory, and leave every new world they attack without any troops to occupy them. Instead, they've taken a particular interest in investigating ancient and unnatural doorways, possible gateways to other worlds."

"Well why the hell would they do that? Can't they just go wherever they please like everyone else?" Capt. Zwei inquired.

"That's correct. Under the current circumstances anyone is capable of inter-dimensional travel, so why would they need a specific gateway? The only conclusion I can reach from this so far, is that they're looking for something, some kind of entryway into a specific world. As to what that world is, I am still unsure."

Whispers and small conversations struck up among the officers. _An entrance to a specific world? But why? _

"In contrast," Kurai continued. "The Covenant has shown a drastic increase in their usual ruthlessness, and I've received reports depicting mass genocide of local populations. And in almost every case the largest casualties were…humans."

The sword smith's gaze dropped to the floor in regret as gasps of shock and outrage. I could hear murmurs about the infamous prophecy regarding the child of the Covenant's queen spring up.

"Damn monsters! We should kill 'em all and be done with it!" shouted an angry officer.

I noticed Hisana tense up at his words.

"The longer we ignore them, the closer that queen of theirs gets to birthing her hellspawn. We've only got three months left now, and if that _thing_ is born, then we're all fucked!"

"Sir, I would ask that you calm down." Kurai tried.

"We all know it's the truth! That rotten bitch was no good from the start. Why did we ever let her live here with us?"

"Were it not for Evelyn, I would have lost my life long ago. We owe her at least a chance to acknowledge her mistakes." Siegfried countered.

"_Mistakes? _Is that what you call the slaughter of millions of innocents? Fucking mistakes?! If you ask me, the real mistake was not killing her when we had the chance!"

I could hear my sister's teeth grinding as she balled her hands into fists.

"Are you saying Ebony and Yomi should have murdered a child?! A child who had nothing to do with her parent's actions?" the king's voice was booming now.

"Considering the fact that child grew up to be even worse than Fury, yes! Monsters like them don't deserve to exist! They should all just get lost and die!"

_SMACK! _

The room fell silent as everyone registered the scene before them. Before Axel and I could calm her down, Hisana had gotten up and punched the officer so hard he flew into the wall. My older sister had a look of absolute rage as she strode over to the man and picked him up by his collar.

"Listen you piece of shit! It was people like you who got us into this mess in the first place! If you hadn't been such fucking pricks to Evelyn, then she would have never become a monster, and I wouldn't have lost my sister! If you insult her, then you insult me!"

Hisana's violet eyes were practically glowing, and her fangs were out for everyone to see.

"If I ever hear you badmouthing her or my niece again, then I won't hesitate to tear your worthless ass to shreds! Understand?"

The officer nodded slowly, paralyzed with fear. Satisfied, Hisana dropped him, and he ran off whimpering. Everyone in the room stared at my sister in shock at her sudden outburst. Hisana remained seething for a few moments, then calmly turned to face Siegfried.

"My apologies, your majesty. I'll just show myself out."

Siegfried sighed and nodded. "That would be best. Take some time to cool down, Commander."

Hisana nodded apologetically before walking out the door. Axel excused himself and followed after her. _Nee-san…_ I knew that deep inside, all she wanted was to help her friend. She would never tell me all the details, but it seemed like something really bad had happened, something that made it hard for her to do her job.

"Sgt. Izuriha." Siegfried said, bringing me back to reality.

"Yes, your highness?"

"You are to join Gen. Roxas and Capt. Zwei on their mission to Kamakura tomorrow. It seems they need an extra hand."

(**A/N: **I think Kamakura (no, not 'Kara' kura) is where Elfen Lied takes place. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

"Will do, your highness."

The sound of light sobbing reached my ears, and I looked back towards the hall to see Hisana with her face buried in Axel's chest as he tried to comfort her. I felt someone rest their hand on my shoulder.

"I know you want to help your sister, but for now you'll just have to let her choose her own path. There are things she's been through that you couldn't understand unless you'd been through them yourself. Right now, the best thing you can do is to keep fighting."

I turned around to see Kurai standing beside me, with a sad smile bearing a guilty weight on his face. He patted my shoulder before walking away.

* * *

**Kamakura, the day after…**

* * *

I walked beside Roxas and Zwei as our troops landed on the shore that ran beside downtown Kamakura. From what I had heard in the briefing en route, a contingent of both CC and AOW forces had landed here not long ago, and we were tasked with determining the cause of the confrontation in such a remote corner of the multiverse, and rescuing any and all survivors we might find. Personally, I was kind of hoping to see some action. I had only really been on around six field assignments, and had only seen combat a handful of times. I still had yet to see any of the infamous Acolytes, who are the strongest warriors in the AOW and serve as generals for White Steel Wrath. Then again, it was rumored that if just one of those guys showed up, and you didn't have someone like Axel, nee-san, or Roxas by your side, then you were pretty much screwed. Thankfully, I've got both Roxas and Capt. Zwei with me, so if one does get the balls to show themselves, we should be able to take them on. Once the beach was secured, we slowly moved into the town. So far there hadn't been any signs of a battle, until we came upon a path that lead up a mountain. Up there we found scorch marks and several smashed buildings. As we were walking past the ruins of a particularly large house, I saw some of the debris shift and reveal what looked like the leg of a young girl.

"Hey! There's someone trapped over here!" I yelled as I set about clearing away the debris.

Roxas and a few other soldiers came over to help me, and soon enough the trapped person was free. I was right, it was a young girl. She wore a blue dress and shoes, and had short pink hair with small horns resembling cat ears sticking out of her head. I scooped the girl up in my arms and gently shook her. Slowly, her eyes began to open. They were just as pink as her hair, and looked up at me in wonder. For some reason, I found myself captivated by how innocent this girl looked, and stared straight back into her eyes.

"Are you alright?" I asked softly.

She slowly nodded. "W…who…who are you?"

"My name is Nasumora. Can you tell me who you are?"

"N…na…Nana. My name is Nana."

"Nana…that's a nice name."

Nana smiled warmly at me. "You mean it?"

I nodded. "I do."

Roxas gave me a knowing smile and told the other soldiers to check in with Zwei before kneeling beside me.

"Hi Nana, I'm Roxas. Can you tell me what happened here, and why you're all alone?" he asked.

Nana seemed to go into thought for a moment. Then all of a sudden, her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh no, Lucy! The monsters came here for Lucy!"

"Monsters? Lucy? What are you talking about?"

"There was a dark woman who had weird blue eyes, she came here with a whole bunch of monsters and talked to Lucy. She said something about killing humans and helping to save our race. Lucy said she'd join her, and then even more monsters showed up! One of them looked like a man with a really long sword, and he and another man with blue hair went after Lucy and the other woman. There was a lot of fighting, I tried to protect the house, and then suddenly the most terrible monster of them all showed up. It killed my friends, and destroyed our house. Everything went dark after that."

I looked up at Roxas, silently asking if he knew what she meant. He nodded, and a stern expression came over his face.

"Nasumora, take her and get back to the base. She might have more to say."

I nodded, then turned back to Nana. "I'm gonna help you up now, okay?"

Nana nodded, and I slowly lifted her up onto her feet. Just as she was fully standing though, the strangest thing happened. Her arm that I had been holding onto came off. No really, it just popped right off. Seeing how I was about to panic, Nana quickly grabbed the arm back.

"Ah! Don't worry! It's not your fault! These things don't stay on very well." she moved her severed arm to her shoulder and it reattached with a click. "See? It's okay, I'm fine."

I was still kinda freaked out, but now I felt more pitiful for her instead of scared.

"Nana…are you…?"

"A while back, I was sent to fight Lucy. When I did, she cut off my arms and legs. So papa gave me new ones, but they keep coming off every now and then."

Before the conversation could continue, a loud rumbling shook the mountain, followed by the cries of soldiers and the sound of gunfire. One of our troops ran over to us, terror written all over his face.

"General! It's them! The AOW are here!" he said.

"Calm yourself, soldier! How many are there?" Roxas commanded.

"Just two, sir!"

"What?! What do you mean just two? That shouldn't be a problem for you."

"But sir, they're Acolytes!"

Both Roxas and I froze at this. _Two Acolytes?! I thought just one was bad! _Roxas snapped out of it first, though I could see he was still trembling.

"I understand soldier. Tell our men to retreat immediately, Capt. Zwei and I will hold them off."

The soldier nodded in understanding before running back down the mountain path. Roxas summoned his keyblades, then turned to me.

"Nasumora, take Nana and get out of here!"

"But sir, I can help!"

"Not this time. These are Acolytes, they're on a whole other level than the usual heartless or nobody. Now take her and go!"

I was about to protest again, when I felt Nana put her hand in mine. I looked over at her, and she nodded. Reluctantly, I nodded back.

"Alright, I'll go."

"Good, now move!"

No sooner had we started down the mountain path, than a shadow in the shape of a tall man in black with long silver hair and a single black angel wing flew over us and crashed straight into Roxas. I saw a katana that was at least 10ft long emerge from the shadow and come down on the general. Roxas blocked the strike, then glanced back at us.

"Run!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. Quickly, I took off down the path, with Nana trailing close behind. As we ran, I saw explosions rising up from various locations across the town. We made it to the streets without a problem, until an explosion that was too close for comfort sent huge chunks of rubble flying at us. They were too close for me to summon my weapon and stop them, so I put myself between the boulders and Nana, and braced for the end. However, after about a minute, I had yet to feel anything collide with my back. I turned around, and gasped at the sight of the rubble stuck in midair. Confused, I looked over at Nana. She was staring intently at the rubble, and in the next instant the chunks were flung aside by some invisible force.

"Nana…did you do that?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

She nodded and smiled proudly. "Papa told me to always use my vectors to help humans, not hurt them. It's a good thing mine are longer, otherwise I might not have been able to stop them in time."

"Vectors?"

"You can't see them, but they're basically these super strong extra arms that I have."

"Wow…you sure are full of surprises. You'll have to tell me more about those when we get out of here."

"And where exactly do you plan on going?" a fairly low voice said from somewhere above us.

We turned to see the silver haired man from earlier standing on the ruined roof of a building. The man jumped down and stood before us with his wing curled in front of him.

"It's a shame really, this one fought so hard to help you, but it seems you weren't fast enough."

His wing unfurled, and I nearly cried out in shock at what I saw. Roxas hung limply on the end of the man's sword, which had skewered him through the heart.

"NO!"

The silver haired man cruelly flung my friend's corpse aside with a flick of his sword.

"Night Terror has already disposed of that ruffian you called a captain, so now the only ones left are you two."

"You bastard! Just who the hell are you?"

"I am Sephiroth, and I will end your pathetic lives." he readied his weapon.

Anger surged through me, and with a yell I summoned my weapon, a gold and black bastard sword with a wheel shaped guard over the hilt, to my hand. I thought I heard Nana yell at me to run away, but I didn't care. I charged toward Sephiroth and swung with all my might. He smirked and stepped out of the path of my strike with ease, and sliced me across the back for extra effect. Cringing, I spun around and sliced at Sephiroth's head, this time he was forced to block it, and before he could counter attack I proceeded to unleash a quick flurry of attacks. But it was pointless, because he blocked every single one of them without taking a step back. The moment my barrage ended, he went into one of his own, striking with near lightning fast speed despite the size of his sword. I could barely stop any of his attacks, and felt several slashes strike all over my body as I retreated. I saw a brief opening in his strikes, and drove my sword forward. He leaned out of the way at the last possible second and delivered a brutal horizontal slash to my stomach. I saw my yellow/black spill all over the pavement as I fell down on a knee. _Dammit! He's too fast, and too strong! How the hell am I supposed to beat this guy? _I saw Sephiroth raise his sword for a killing blow, when all of a sudden a large chunk of debris struck him, making him stagger back a few steps. We both looked in surprise at Nana, who was glaring at Sephiroth with four more chunks floating around her.

"Leave him alone!" she yelled.

Sephiroth gave her a displeased look before dashing forward at lightning speed and punching her. The force of the blow sent her flying into a nearby wall, causing her prosthetic limbs to detach and fly everywhere.

"Nana!" I cried, struggling to rise to my feet.

"You are a nuisance. Do me a favor and die." Sephiroth said coldly, readying his sword.

Now that my injuries had time to regenerate, I rushed toward him again. In the blink of an eye, Sephiroth turned around and slashed at me. However, this time I had seen it coming, and I l front flipped over the strike with my sword pointed downwards. Sephiroth ducked under what he thought would be a slice at his head, only to widen his eyes at hearing a mechanical click. Upon pushing a button built into the hilt of sword, the blade rotated along the wheel shaped guard and pointed straight at his exposed neck.

"Impossible…" I heard him say as my blade drove through his neck, severing his head from his shoulders.

Sephiroth's headless corpse collapsed to the ground, and I landed in front of Nana. The limbless girl looked at me with surprise, shortly before it turned to relief.

"Thank goodness…you're okay, Nasu-kun."

"Nasu-kun?"

"Yes. You risked your life to save me, even though I was a complete stranger, so I was hoping that the two of us could become friends."

_Friends…I liked the sound of that._ "Sure, let's be friends."

She smiled at that, and I couldn't help but smile back. I quickly retrieved her limbs and reattached them before we continued to make our escape. Before we left, I grabbed one of Roxas's keyblades. Even though it wasn't going to be easy reporting his and Zwei's deaths, they deserved to be remembered. I may have defeated an Acolyte, but the cost to defeat that enemy had been high. Somehow, I knew that this was only the beginning of what was to come.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey everyone! As you may have figured out by that little bit at the beginning, I have returned from my trip to Rushmore. I hope this extra long chapter makes up for my absence, and I promise I will get back to writing at as close to optimal speed as possible. There will be a short delay before the next chapter, as I have been tasked with making a crossover one shot with a buddy of mine on here (a job which I am happily undertaking), and am unsure how long that will take. Regardless, I will continue this story as soon as I am able. As always, don't forget to review! Till next time! DarkNovelist out.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Outcast**

* * *

**Windbloom, a few weeks later…**

* * *

_**White Rock Shooter**_

* * *

The first thing I saw when I woke was paper. Slowly lifting my head up as the drowsiness left me, I realized that I had been writing just before I fell asleep. Looking down, I saw that the letter was nearly finished, and needed only my signature. Smiling, I signed the paper and put it away in an envelope before going to get dressed. This had become a part of my routine over the past few months. Writing letters seemed to be the only way I could communicate with Yuu, the only way we could stay in touch with each other as the war dragged on. In the beginning she would contact me through her mind, and we could see each other when I slept. But then she told me that her daughter was becoming too suspicious of how she was using her ability, and so we began sending letters to each other every week by means of a special bird that could cloak itself while it flew. In two more days the bird will come again, and we'll exchange messages once more. Thankfully no one knew who I was writing to, as everyone who knew I wrote just assumed I never sent the letters, and used the writing as some kind of distraction. I won't lie, being away from the one you love and surrounded by people who are either suspicious of you or hate your guts (both in Mato's case) simply because of who you are has made living in Windbloom no easy task. Not that I can completely blame them, I'm well aware of how troublesome I was for the few people who knew of my existence in the past. However, being close to my family has helped me try to become a more respectable person in their eyes. Thinking of my loved ones reminded me that I was going to make a special stop today, so I finished putting on my jacket and headed out the door.

"Good morning, Ms. White." said Nasumora as I passed the home where he lived with Oxymi.

I smiled warmly at the young boy. _**"Good morning, Nasumora. How is your mother today?"**_

"Worried about me as always. Although, since I brought Nana home she's been plaguing me with questions." he sighed in annoyance.

I couldn't help but smirk at this._** "Oh? What kind of questions?" **_

I saw him glance to the side as a blush crept onto his face. "Y-you know, questions about Nana and me."

"_**As in whether or not you've decided to admit that you like her yet?" **_

"Not you too? Come on, I've barely known her for more than a few weeks. I can't just decide something important like that…even if she is really cute…"

"_**You know, it only took one look at my partner for me to realize she was the one for me. We did all kinds of fun things together…" **_

I couldn't help but laugh as the implication of my words made him blush even brighter.

"_**Well, regardless of what you do, good luck Nasumora. Now, I must be on my way. I promised to visit her today." **_

He perked up at that, and waved as I walked away. "Tell her I said hi, and that I hope she gets better soon."

I nodded and continued to walk. A few weeks ago, Nasumora left on a mission with my daughter's good friend Roxas. When he came back, he brought a sweet young girl by the name of Nana with him. The girl's arrival helped to soothe the pain that Hisana and particularly her boyfriend felt upon hearing that Roxas had perished in battle with one of the Agent's Acolytes. Poor Axel, from what I heard he and the keyblade wielder had been very close. Though he seemed to be better now, I could still see faint signs of grief in his normally carefree expression. From Nana we also learned that she was something called a Diclonius, a type of subhuman brought about by a highly contagious disease in her dimension. The Diclonii possessed strange weapons called vectors, and were incredibly violent in nature towards humans. Apparently the number of deaths brought upon by Diclonii resulted in a government order to kill all infants born of Diclonii descent, which, along with the many horrific experiments that awaited those who survived, was most likely the cause of the species' hatred toward normal humans. According to Nana, a very powerful and very dangerous Diclonius by the name of Lucy had joined up with Strife, in exchange for liberating the Diclonii and giving them a place to call home, thus adding more powerful foes to the Covenant's ranks. The news troubled the heads of the EOT's military, and they've been frantic ever since. However, now was not the time to be concerned with the war effort right now, so I shoved those thoughts aside and continued walking until I reached the hospital.

"_**Yes, I'd like to check up on her." **_I told the doctor at the front desk after being asked why I had come here.

He looked at some papers on his desk for a moment before responding. "Well, looks like her condition's finally stabilized. Go ahead, but do be quiet. She's probably resting right now."

"_**I'll be sure to keep her comfortable." **_

That seemed to convince him, so he told me where I wanted to go and sent me on my way. I thought I heard him mutter something like "creep" when he thought I was out of earshot. I paid it no mind and simply continued on my way. Soon enough I arrived at the room I was looking for. Slowly and quietly, I opened the door and crept inside. Lying on a bed, with her wings folded inward and bandages covering nearly every inch of her body, was none other than Valkyrie. I hadn't heard all the details, but apparently Hisana's other self had received serious wounds from a Covenant general named Astaroth, and because the injuries were inflicted through hellfire, they had yet to heal. Valkyrie's face was one of the few areas devoid of injury, and the only thing besides her wings that remained uncovered. As if sensing my presence, her eyes began to slowly flutter open. Her violet ringed irises scanned the room until they found me sitting in a chair beside her.

"I must be a pitiful sight, aren't I?" she said. "I'm an other self, and yet I've been placed in intensive care because my injuries won't heal fast enough. How sad is that?"

"_**It's not your fault. The enemy has become increasingly dangerous the longer this war continues. I doubt I would be in any better condition had I gone in your place. Were it not for the king forbidding me to leave the city…" **_

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was the only one who took this kind of damage, I fear for what might have happened to you even had you been there. And don't be mad at Siegfried, he's only keeping you here so that people can learn to trust you."

"_**And just look at how well that's worked out." **_

She laughed lightly. "Just give them a little more time. If they can learn to trust me, I'm sure they'll trust you too."

I sighed and lowered my gaze. _**"I hope so…" **_

"Hey, Hisana trusts you. That's got to count for something."

I smiled at this and nodded in agreement. To be honest, Siegfried's men couldn't restrain me no matter how hard they tried. The only thing stopping me from leaving was my daughter, both halves of her. If it weren't for Valkyrie and Hisana, I probably would have ran off a long time ago. Mato would never put her faith in me, despite my attempts to put the past behind us, and Rukia (who has finally regained her memories) was of the same mind as her. But Hisana had chosen to accept me, even after hearing about who I once was. Both her and Valkyrie were willing to accept me as part of their family, a dream I had long believed to be impossible. They were as much my children as they had been Ebony's, but now I was finally being treated as their mother, finally able to express my love to a girl who I had watched grow and become a capable young woman. I stayed by Valkyrie's side for a little while longer before deciding it was time to leave. She thanked me for visiting her, then bade me farewell as I exited the room. I spent the rest of the day sharpening my skills in the training grounds and talking with the queen (who despite the fierce look in her eye, was quite gentle) about various matters until evening came. However, upon entering the flat I shared with Mato and Rukia I found the former leaning against the hallway leading to my room, almost as if she was waiting for me. The angry glare she was sending my way told me she had something to say.

"_**Can I help you?" **_ I asked, preparing for what was probably a lecture.

"You think you've got them all fooled, don't you?" Mato began.

"_**I beg your pardon?" **_

"You think that just because you've done a few good deeds everyone will forget what you are, that they'll just accept you? Don't be so naïve. You may have Hisana and the others fooled, but Rukia and I know that it's only a matter of time before you show your true colors. I know you're up to something, there's no way you'd just give up being evil all of a sudden."

I sighed in annoyance. _**"For the last time, I'm not planning anything. All I want is to have a peaceful life with my family. Believe it or not, that includes you. Why can't you just let go of the past, and move on like I did?" **_

Mato huffed in frustration. "'Your' family? Don't be ridiculous! You don't have a family, you just want to take mine! I won't fall for your petty tricks, Ivory. No matter what you do, I'll never accept you!"

At this, I had had enough. Without responding, I pushed my way past her and made for my room.

"You can't hide! I'll expose you for what you are, just you wait!" she called just before I closed the door.

I let out another sigh as I undressed and got under my bedsheets. As I began to drift into sleep, my thoughts once again went to my love. In my dream, she was there beside me, smiling down at me while her arms held me in a warm embrace. She stared at me lovingly for a moment before pressing her lips to mine. My love wasted no time with foreplay and immediately went for my chest. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as her small hands fondled and massaged my bosom.

"_**Yuu…" **_I moaned.

She smiled in response and removed one hand. Slowly it drifted downward, leaving featherlike touches all the way down to between my legs. Then, bit by bit, she inserted a finger into my center. I struggled not to let my voice out in response to the pleasure I was feeling. Her finger started going in and out of me, steadily working up a rhythm. I could feel my hips rocking to match her movements as the tension building within me mounted.

"_**Yes…Oh god, Yuu…that's it…" **_

A few moments later, and the tension reached its peak. My lust filled cry died in my throat as I came. I gasped for breath and closed my eyes as I rode out the last few waves of my orgasm.

"_**Yuu…I love you…" **_

I opened my eyes to greet her, but found that I was alone. Looking down, I realized that the hands on my breast and between my legs were my own. Sighing in disappointment, I straightened out my covers before rolling over and going back to sleep. _Yuu…please come back to me…_

* * *

**Two days later…**

* * *

I eagerly walked towards my house with a smile. Today the messenger bird used by me and Yuu would come, and I could send her my letter while reading the one she sent me. I had spent the whole day impatiently waiting for it to be mid afternoon. While I knew the bird was trained not to leave until I had given it a message, I still wanted to get back as soon as possible. Just as I was leaving the palace from another visit to the queen, someone suddenly blocked my path. With a start, I realized it was not Mato, nor Rukia, but Ebony who stood before me.

"_**Wha-what's the meaning of this?!" **_ I said, dumbfounded.

"We've decided it's time we got back together. Now we are Ebony once more. However, our fusion is still incomplete. It seems that despite the presence of both Mato and Rukia inside of me, you are still needed."

My eyes widened in horror. _**"No…are you saying that…you want me to…?" **_

Ebony nodded. "It's time you went back to where you belong. You don't have a place in this world, and if you join with me again I'll be able to keep you out of trouble for good."

As much as I wanted to remain calm, something as drastic as this made it impossible to not glare at her.

"_**You've got a lot of nerve if you think you can just waltz up to me and demand that I go back to being alone for eternity. I've told you countless times, I'm not going through that again, I'm not giving up my freedom!" **_

Ebony smirked uncharacteristically at me. "I figured you'd say that. That's why I took the liberty of acquiring some interesting bits of information."

She rummaged around inside her jacket for a moment before pulling out an envelope addressed to me.

"Does this look familiar?"

I practically froze in fear. _**"Where did you-"**_

"I decided to do some investigating, and I came across this sitting on your desk. I'm not sure how it got there, but it looked important enough that I had a look inside. You wouldn't believe what I found in this."

While I trembled in fear, Ebony opened up the envelope and began to read it aloud.

"Dear White, Although we are miles apart, it warms my heart to know that things are finally going well for you. Every day we are apart it feels like I lose a little more of myself. Our numbers have grown exponentially since last I wrote, and I fear that soon Strife will unleash her horde on Windbloom. I still regret not bringing you with me, but knowing that people are starting to trust you puts me at ease, if only a little. I pray that you will continue to believe in me, and that soon enough everyone will like you. Eagerly awaiting your next letter, Yuu."

Despite the emotional intention of the letter, I knew that Ebony was bound to take it the wrong way. Putting Yuu's message back in the envelope, she looked back at me smugly.

"It seems I was right after all. You're not just up to something, you're manipulating Yuu as well. While you're sweet talking her into thinking you love her, you're handing away valuable secrets to the enemy. What would Hisana say if she saw this?"

"_**You don't understand! I only write to Yuu so I can stay in touch with her! Hasn't Hisana told you how much I care for her? Haven't you ever wanted to do something for the one you love, even when you're miles away from each other?" **_

Her expression told me she wasn't buying it. "Oh, I know just how much you 'care' for Yuu. I also found your letter while I was in there."

As if to prove her point, she took out my most recent letter as well.

"No doubt this is full of more of the EOT's military secrets. Well I can say for a fact that you're not getting away with this little covert operation of yours any longer."

Ignoring her words, I reached for the letter. _**"Give that back! That's for Yuu!" **_

Ebony withdrew it just out of my reach. "I don't think so. This letter is going straight to Siegfried and the others. Once I do that, they'll finally realize they've been tricked and get rid of you for good! But…"

A devious smile spread on her lips.

"If you don't want this to go public, then become a part of me again. If you do that, I'll never tell a soul, and say that you just ran away. Look on the bright side, if you return to me you can still see the world through my eyes, and nobody will be able to bother you ever again."

I felt my hands clench into fists at this. How could she do this to me?! Did she really think she was doing what was right?

"_**Never…" **_ I growled.

"What?"

"_**Never! I'll never go back to that prison! I'm not letting go of what I have! I can finally have a chance to live a real life, and I intend to live that life with Yuu! As soon as this war is over, we'll be together again, and you can forget all about me." **_

Ebony paused for a moment, then glared at me.

"Perhaps you weren't listening, so I guess I'll just have to give some incentive!"

With that, she tore the letter I had written to pieces.

"_**NO!" **_

"There! Now it should be easy for you to decide-"

Whatever she was about to say next, it died in her throat as my sword slashed across her chest, spilling blue/black blood onto the pavement. My vision began to blur as rage unlike any I had ever felt overtook me. Objects and shapes seemed to fly by in a matter of seconds, and when next I could see clearly, I was standing over a severely injured Ebony covered in bruises and deep gashes. Her zanpakutou sat broken in half beside her black katana somewhere on the edge of the crater we were in, and I could feel the red flame burning out of my right eye. My anger kept me from thinking about how or when we had gotten here, and only a single thought became clear. _Kill._ After what Ebony had just tried to pull, it was difficult for me to fight against that thought, and I felt my arm raise as I positioned my sword downwards.

"STOP!" a voice suddenly cried out from behind me.

Without thinking, I wheeled around and pinned the speaker to the ground with my sword at their throat. I froze when I saw just who it was I had put in this position. Staring up at me with pure horror was none other than Hisana. Finally regaining control of my actions, I quickly pushed myself off from her. She slowly sat up, still staring at me fearfully.

"Why…why did you do it? Why do you have those flames?" she said in a trembling voice.

With a start, I realized that my sword was completely encased in bright red hellfire, just like my eye. Wanting to try to calm her down, I put away the deadly weapon.

"_**Hisana, I can explain…" **_I tried, taking a small step toward her.

She backed away in fear. "Explain what? Explain why you attacked my mother for no reason? Explain why you can use hellfire just like Evelyn and…and…"

I lowered my head and partially removed my jacket, allowing her to see the small teeth marks on my shoulder signifying my bond to Yuu.

"_**You should have realized it when I told how much Yuu meant to me. Don't worry, I didn't get this until after you were born, so it won't transfer to you." **_

She didn't seem to relax much at this. "Why did you attack Ebony?"

"_**I didn't want to do it! She did something that made me so mad that I lost control!" **_

"What do you mean, she did something?"

"I'll tell you what she means…" came a hoarse voice from the crater.

Ebony weakly began to rise to where she was just barely standing.

"Mom!" Hisana cried.

I felt her shove past me as she ran to Ebony's side to keep her from falling. By now people and armed soldiers were starting to gather around us as Ebony prepared to speak.

"I found out that she was somehow sending private letters to Fury of the Cobalt Covenant. It seems that every week on this day they exchange information, no doubt about the EOT's movements and weaknesses! I'm not sure how long it's been going on, but I managed to destroy the last letter she wrote before it was sent. She tried to kill me, so she could cover it up and continue to diverge our secrets!" she declared.

Everyone sent either glares or looks of suspicion at me. I heard the sound of several firearms being readied, and turned around to see Siegfried and a platoon of elite guards with their weapons drawn and aimed at me.

"And what's more," Ebony continued. "it seems that she possesses the power to control hellfire, and ability which we thought to belong only to our enemies. Just look at all the damage she's caused!"

I turned with the crowd to look at the streets around us. As far as I could see, there were scorch marks and damaged buildings all across the city. _Did I…do this? _

Siegfried turned hos attention back to me. "Is this true?"

"_**No! Well, yes I sent letters to Yuu, but I don't know anything about the military! The only thing in those letters were words of love! We were sending each other letters because we missed each other! I never intended for any of this to happen! Please, you have to believe me!" **_

I desperately turned to my daughter.

"_**Hisana, tell them! You know I only want peace! You trust me, don't you?" **_

"I can't believe it…" I heard her whisper.

"_**What?" **_

Hisana looked at me, awestruck. "Mom was right all along…you really are a monster."

It felt as though something died in me just then. Some small glimmer of hope that my efforts to connect had not been in vain. But now, it was gone. My daughter no longer trusted me. She was just like everyone else. I hung my head so that my bangs hid my slowly watering eyes.

"_**I see…that's how you felt all along, isn't it? It seems that I was wrong about you," **_I looked up just enough so she could see the rims of my eyes. _**"You really are just like Ebony." **_

I saw her eyes begin to widen in surprise, and I thought I saw a tinge of regret, but I was no longer in the mood to care. I turned away from her and began walking towards my apartment. Without looking my way, Siegfried put a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"I already know we can't kill you, so I'm placing you under house arrest. Go home, and don't come out again unless instructed otherwise." he said sternly, and yet somewhat understandingly.

I nodded in compliance, and he released me.

"You're letting her live? But your highness, look at what she's done! Shouldn't she have a more serious punishment?" I heard a soldier say.

"No. I can tell just from looking at her…"

I partially turned and saw the king staring at me in mixed anger and sympathy.

"She is already receiving a punishment more severe than any I can give."

With that, I turned back toward the road and walked until I reached an unoccupied street. Now that I was out of sight, I broke into a run. Soon enough I was at my apartment. I calmly walked inside my room and closed the door, then let out the tears I had been holding back.

"_**Why…I believed in you…I thought you were different…I thought you understood…" **_I said in little more than a whisper.

A small rustling drew my attention to my open window. There sat the messenger bird, still waiting to receive my letter. In the midst of my frustration and sorrow, I grabbed my pen and some fresh parchment, and quickly wrote a new letter for Yuu. As soon as I was done signing, I sealed it in an envelope and put it in a pouch tied around the bird's neck.

"_**Be sure that she gets this as soon as possible." **_

It seemed to almost nod in understanding before flying off, turning invisible with a flap of its wings. Once the bird was gone, I closed my window and fell on my bed, still letting out tears.

"_**Hurry Yuu…take me away from this awful place…I want to be back in your arms…I don't want to be alone again…never again…" **_

I finally lost the ability to form words, and cried out in grief. Even though I knew Yuu would come once she got the message, it would still be awhile before I was out of here. Now all I can do is wait for my beloved to rescue me from solitude, just as she did before.

* * *

**The Otherworld, Strife's Fortress, at the same time…**

* * *

_**Yuu**_

* * *

I sat looking out at the vast expanse of a world that was once empty, but now was filled with thousands, no, millions of demons, monsters, and any other nonhuman race that had suffered the plight of mankind's hatred. Below me, warriors trained and traded stories of battle and glory, neither of which I held any interest in. I had known from the start that standing by my daughter's side would require me to once again become the enemy of all that is good, but that hadn't made it any easier to reenter the position. I was named high commander of all of Strife's forces, and she was crowned queen of all demons. Under my daughter's rule, countless worlds have been lost to death and damnation, most of which was brought upon by her own hands. Despite my warnings of the damage her strenuous activities would due to her child, Strife refused to stay put in the fortress for anything other than rest. She was always on the front lines, burning both innocent and guilty alike in the inferno of her rage. It was just as I'd feared, she'd become an even greater menace than me, only it was her own will that drove her, and not that of the lord of Gehenna. I remembered with a shudder how she had acted on a campaign to a place called Camelot City. When we first arrived, two of the local humans, a father and his daughter, recognized Strife from some earlier encounter they'd had with her. As the father tried to convince his angry brethren that Strife was still Evelyn, and was the only demon to be trusted, Strife gutted him, right in front of his little girl. That poor child…she tried to understand why Strife had done such a horrible thing after being shown kindness, and as a result my daughter decided to explain by making an example of her. She ordered our men to slaughter everyone, and spare only the child. Then we left her, alone and scared out of her mind. I fear for my daughter, I fear for what will become of her and her child. And though she is far away, I fear for White as well. _I just hope they're warming up to her, god knows she deserves a chance. _I was broken out of my thoughts as someone knocked on my door.

"Commander, she's asking for you." came a mature woman's voice.

"I understand, I'll be out in just a moment."

As much as I wanted to stay and receive my weekly letter from White, my daughter took priority. Composing myself, I exited my chambers and found Lucy waiting for me in the hall. The queen Diclonius had become an important ally in the war effort, especially now that we had her entire race on our side (though they were small in number). The Diclonii have turned the tide on many battlefields, and seem to bare a hatred for mankind that runs just as deep, if not deeper, than that of Strife. This and the persecution they received were just some of the many similarities that caused them to side with us. Lucy was probably the most violent among her race, as I have witnessed firsthand just how deadly she can be in combat. She was the type of person who didn't talk much, and let their actions speak for them. Which is why it was quiet on the way to my daughter's quarters. Lucy nodded to me, then left to carry on the rest of her duties. Taking a deep breath, I entered Strife's chambers. The room wasn't too extravagant, despite her social status, and the only regal looking feature was the large bed with curtains surrounding all sides. However, my daughter was nowhere to be found. I noticed an open passageway that appeared to be hidden inside the wall, as I had not seen it before on my previous visits. But I had a feeling that wherever it led to, Strife would be there. Sure enough, as I made my way down a long and dark staircase, I found her standing before a transparent casket. With a start, I realized that the body inside the casket was that of Shinzo, my daughter's lover whose death had been the ignition to the war. Strife stared lovingly down at her husband's still form, gently resting her hand over Shinzo's chest. This was one of the rare occasions when her eyes returned to their original amber hue, instead of the fiery sapphire she used most of the time.

"**I know you're here, father." **my daughter said suddenly, startling me. **"Don't worry, I'm not angry at you. I was planning on telling you about this when the time came anyway."**

She turned towards me, an unusual amount of sadness in her normally emotionless eyes.

"**I miss her so much…" **she looked down at her slightly distended stomach. **"**_**We **_**miss her…" **

I suddenly lacked the courage to face her in her current state, and looked away.

"I know. I'm sorry…if only I still had his power I could of-"

"**Do not blame yourself, father. Satan would not have loaned you his power for something like this. And besides, you had no way of knowing the gate had been destroyed." **

I nodded, but still felt guilty. When Strife was still gathering forces, I had tried to convince her that I knew of a way to revive Shinzo. She was willing to listen, so she followed me into the depths of the fortress, where the old Gehenna Gate I used during my time as Fury should have been. When we got there, we had found out that the gate had been destroyed. I thought I could just open up another one, but no matter what I tried it didn't work. It was then that Astaroth explained to us that only Satan himself can open and control the gates, and that the only reason I could so at one point was because he was in possession of my body and was allowing me to use his power. In other words, without the lord of Gehenna's power, we could not bring back Shinzo using the gateway. _If only I still had that power…I could've stopped this war before it began, and had my normal daughter back. _Strife looked back at her lover's body and slowly rubbed circles over her belly.

"**Just two more months, my love. Two more months, and our baby will be born, our little Ryunoko. I promise, I will do everything in my power to bring you back before then." **

Hearing her promise rekindled my resolve to help her, and I was once again able to look up at her.

"And I promise to do all that I can to make sure you succeed on that end." I swore.

"**By the way father, I think it's time you came clean about your secret as well."**

My eyes widened in surprise at this. "What? What are you talking about?"

"**I'm talking about your sending letters to that woman you call "White". Did you honestly think you could hide it from me?" **she looked back at me now, her eyes once again a fiery blue.

"It's not what you think! I was just-"

"**Sending love letters to a woman I've never fully met? A woman who you have bonded with, despite her not being my mother?" **

I was struck speechless. _How did she find out? More importantly, what is she going to do now that she knows? _

"**I have known for quite some time now, thanks to a few associates of mine. I've seen the letters written by both you and her." **

I averted my gaze, awaiting the cries of anger that were sure to follow.

"**I am happy for you."**

Confused, I looked back at her. Strife was smiling at me in a sort of half comforting, half devious sort of way.

"**You truly love this woman, and from what I have read in the letters she sends you, she loves you as well, more than anything else. From what I've gathered, she is no different from us, and her deepest wish is to become part of a family, specifically one that involves you." **

"That's…correct."

"**I would like to meet her in person, so that I may see for myself if she is truly worthy to become my mother. Evelyn feels the same way."**

I couldn't help but smile hopefully at this. Somehow, despite all of her dark qualities, it seemed that Strife had at least one genuinely good side to her. Perhaps she really was of the same heart as Evelyn.

"**As much as I'd like that to happen, I'm afraid it will be a bit more complicated than that." **she said in a much more serious tone. She reached into a pocket of her nightgown and produced an envelope addressed to me. **"This is the message she sent today. Once you read it, you will understand what must be done."**

Strife handed over the envelope, and I quickly took out the letter to read. I could hear my teeth grinding as I read about the cruelties she had undergone, and how my efforts to give her a chance at happiness were ruined by the last person I would expect: Ebony. _And to think, at a time I used to love her…_ White was calling me for help, but I knew that freeing her would be no simple task.

"**You understand now, don't you?" **Strife asked, a cruel smile forming on her lips.

I could feel one begin to form on my own as I answered.

"Yes, I understand exactly what must be done. You were planning on going there at some point anyway, why not speed things up a bit? They've gone too far this time, and now its time for them to finally get what they deserve…"

"**Yes, the time has finally come for the kingdom of Windbloom, no, all of the EOT, to fall.**

_**It is time to destroy the source of our pain."**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Dwellers of the Darkness**

* * *

**Wrath's Castle, the day after…**

* * *

_**Akaxi**_

* * *

The halls were quiet as I made my way towards the superior's throne room. All of our lower class soldiers were either gathered in the courtyard or spread out among the worlds we controlled. Fortunately, as a nobody created under the previous superior's rule, I was not among such inferior creatures as the heartless. In fact, my position was actually quite unique. I was the only one of the female officers of the superior's forces to have a seat among the Acolytes. For some reason, he seemed to have some sort of grudge against women, particularly lesbians, and the fact that just about every other woman besides me who worked here was gay didn't really help. Though to be honest, I cannot fathom such a thing as love. I know enough that it is some sort of deep attachment, a longing of some sort from what some of the more emotional members of our group have told me. However, I chose not to investigate into it any further than I already had, for I hated the very notion of "love". I can barely tolerate the sidelong glances my allies send each others way, but small displays of affection such as these were not the reasons I detested love. For you see, my teacher, the person I looked up to most had become my enemy because of love. And now, she's gone. Left to die in the desert, with both of her arms severed and numerous burns and wounds covering her body. And I had given her some of those wounds myself. _Sensei…why did you have to desert us? Why did you let your feelings make you weak? _On that day, I made a vow to never let myself be corrupted by love, so that I would forever be strong and able to fulfill my duties as a soldier. With that thought in mind, I arrived at the throne room. Inside, the superior sat in his large throne resting his chin in his hand and smiling with grim intelligence in his eyes. Or was it insanity? I could never tell one apart from the other when it came to him. On either side of the room sat a pair of long tables, where the Acolytes were seated. Two of the seats were empty, since we had lost both Sephiroth and Grimmjow on the same mission. I saw the monstrosity known as Night Terror glaring at me with its fiery eyes from across the room as I sat down.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the dyke squad. Glad you decided to finally show up." a snide voice to my right said.

I sighed in annoyance and turned toward the speaker.

"Shut it, Vanitas. You know I'm not like those idiots."

A boy with very spiky black hair and yellow eyes dressed in shadow like black and red armor smiled cruelly at this. Vanitas was the one responsible for our gargantuan army of heartless. The dark creatures seemed to practically grow out of him, as they were created from the darkness that comprised his entire being.

"If that's true, then why don't you prove it? Surely you must be lonely-"

"Vanitas, enough. It's time for us to begin." White Steel Wrath chided coolly from his throne.

The dark boy reluctantly fell silent, and turned with the rest of us toward the superior. Wrath sat up straight to address the room.

"Let's begin with our progress on the current objective. Have any of you found what we're looking for yet?"

"No, superior. We have yet to find anything that matches the description of what you desire." I said.

"As expected of the dyke squad, can't do anything right." Vanitas commented.

"Oh? Are you saying you found something, then?" I countered.

He opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and frowned while crossing his arms.

"No, my heartless haven't made any progress in that area either." he mumbled, slumping back defeated in his chair.

I smirked victoriously, and noticed the superior shake his head at him.

"I know Night Terror can't do anything besides kill, so I'm not asking him." Wrath continued. "Akuma, anything?"

"If you think I care about anything other than fighting strong opponents, forget it." said Akuma.

He was a huge man with dark skin, red hair, demonic red eyes, and wore something along the lines of a black karate uniform with torn rims, sandals, and a necklace of large beads. Everything about the man radiated evil and violence, quite fitting for someone who's very name translated to "demon". He was always obsessed with battle for some reason.

"Right, forget I asked." Wrath turned to Thryx and Esudx, two of my male comrades who made up the rest of the Acolytes. "What about you two?"

Ever the prideful one, Esudx stood up to directly address the superior.

"No, superior. Despite our efforts we have yet to come across that which you seek." he said in his deep and empowered voice.

Wrath sighed. "I see."

The superior stood up from his throne and walked down the center of the room with his hands behind his back and his gaze turned to the floor. The light of the distant Core shone through the glass roof of the throne room.

"Ironic, isn't it? We are the closest to the object of everyone's desire, and yet we could not be any further away from obtaining it. From this distance, we can (barely) draw upon its power and summon as many troops as need be. However, without being able to directly access the Core's abilities, we will never obtain true victory."

Wrath looked up at the Core, which hung like a distant moon from our castle, his smile turning to a determined glare.

"That is why we must find it. We must find a gateway that will take us directly to the center of all creation. Only then can we attain our goals."

"That's what you're after?" said a fairly high female voice.

Everyone but the superior turned in surprise to see a young woman with red hair and equally red eyes stretched across the throne. The woman had her hands behind her head, and for reasons beyond my comprehension the scarf around her neck was spinning a combat knife around above her. I summoned my weapon and pointed it at the intruder.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.

"Felicity Ira, an accomplice of mine." the superior said. He had yet to turn around and face the woman. "You might as well lower your weapon, Akaxi. You don't stand a chance against her."

I looked at him in disbelief, but obeyed nonetheless. Felicity leapt off from the superior's throne and casually waltzed up to him.

"You know, when you first hired me I thought I had you figured out. But now, you're not making any sense. You overthrew Pinky, took control of this place and built up a big army of bad guys, but I have yet to see you act out any form of that vengeance you seemed so dead set on achieving. And besides, if you're looking for a way to gain the ultimate power, why not just ask Kyubey?"

I thought I saw an irritated vein appear on Wrath's forehead.

"I would have asked him, but _somebody_ decided to treat him like a stuffed animal and hugged and petted him so much that he literally exploded out of sheer discomfort!" he turned around and glared at Felicity. "And who do you think I have to blame for that?"

The woman didn't appear fazed in the slightest.

"Well it's not my fault he was so damn cute. Give me a break, I love cats. Even evil space cats."

Wrath groaned and deadpanned. "You don't have a care in the world, do you?"

"Nope."

"I thought as much. Anyway, what are you even doing here? The last time I checked I no longer required your assistance."

"Meh, I'm just sticking around until Strife has her baby. After all the hype everyone's built up, I'm curious as to what the 'child of destruction' will look like."

Wrath straightened up at this, as did the rest of us. We were all very clear that the prophecy regarding the offspring of demon queen Strife was a point of great interest for the superior. He seemed to go into thought for a moment, then his usual sadistic smile crept back onto his lips.

"Thank you for reminding me about that, Ms. Ira. As it turns out, I may have something for you to do after all."

Felicity quirked an eyebrow at him as he bent down to whisper in her ear. As soon as the superior was done talking to her, her eyes widened in shock.

"Are you serious? Haven't we done enough to her?" she said with a glare.

"What's this? Is the infamous Red Cat showing concern for somebody who doesn't have anything to do with her?"

I saw Felicity cringe at that, and she clenched her fists in frustration.

"No. Not one bit." she said with what looked like a fair amount of reluctance.

Wrath smirked victoriously at her. "I thought not. Now, if you would be so kind as to attend to your task…"

"I got it. I'll be back in a bit."

She turned away, still clenching her fists. She stopped in front of the exit and turned slightly toward the superior.

"I hope Strife burns you to a crisp for this."

With that, she disappeared behind the door. Satisfied with whatever he had ordered the strange woman to do, Wrath began to walk back to his throne.

"Since none of you have made any significant progress, I've decided to take matters into my own hands, which I find myself doing more often than I'd like. I've done some research, and while I have not found a direct route to the Core, I may have found someone who does. Or rather, something."

The superior stopped in front of his throne and turned back toward me. The fierce determination he had earlier had returned.

"Akaxi. You, Thryx, Akuma, and one other will be accompanying me on this mission. I ask that our fifth member be the best and brightest of your bunch."

Vanitas stood up. "Hey, what about me?"

"I need you and Esudx to maintain order until I return. You are the only other person with the dark power needed to keep Night Terror on a leash."

As if to prove his point, Night Terror roared and aimlessly fired off a fiery beam of energy from his horn, blasting yet another hole in the roof. Wrath rolled his eyes and sighed before walking towards the exit.

"Someone better fix that before I get back! We leave in one hour, dismissed!"

* * *

**Solstheim, sometime later…**

* * *

It was cold when we arrived on the ash covered island of Solstheim. I had chosen No. 13, Xeranov, to be the fifth member of our party. To be honest, she probably wasn't the best choice. But Xetsera was too busy on another mission, Oxymi was still a traitor, and after catching Axim in quite the embarrassing position with a topless Mokxoti on top of her, I was in no mood to recruit either of them. Xeranov was a decent fighter, but not skilled enough to reach a higher rank. Like the rest of my female comrades, she was into women, but didn't flaunt it like the others, so the superior found her tolerable and would occasionally let her into our meetings. I chose her not for her fighting ability, but for her undying loyalty. She was definitely someone I could rely on, and was more than eager to accompany me on this mission. She was the only one amongst our entire organization that I considered my friend. However, I did not care for her to any further extent than that.

"So, what are we looking for, superior?" she asked in her usual lighthearted voice.

Wrath turned around to face us. "According to my informants, there are artifacts here that will allow us to commune with Hermaeus Mora, a deity of sorts said to possess an infinite amount of knowledge. If anyone will know how to find what we desire."

"What do these 'artifacts' look like?" I asked.

"Apparently they're in the form of large black books."

"You brought us out here to look for books? What a waste of time." Akuma groaned.

"No, I brought _you _out here on the off chance that I'd need your strength to ward off any opposition that may impede our progress. I want you and Thryx to stay here and keep an eye out for the other factions. The others will help me look."

The martial artist growled again, but obeyed nonetheless. The remaining three of us walked a fair distance across the island, past a small village and some mysterious stone structures. As we waded through the ash, Xeranov stopped for a moment and knelt down.

"Xeranov?" I said curiously.

She reached out and plucked up a strange looking flower from amidst the ash. Standing up, she held it out for me to see.

"What do you think? Isn't it beautiful?"

The flower was red on the outside while the inner petals were an odd shade of silver.

"I like the color red…I don't know why, but it brings back memories…it reminds me of someone I think the original me loved…"

I stiffened at this. Not wanting to dwell on it any further, I turned around sharply and began to walk away.

"We don't have time to dwell on impossible things. We're not people, we're just empty shells. We're nobodies, we don't love."

I thought I heard her sigh before catching up to me.

"Right, my mistake."

I simply nodded. Soon enough, the three of us arrived at an end of the island where a small village had been built inside of enormous mushrooms and trees. The people there shot us odd glances, most likely due to the rare amount of visitors to Solstheim. Wrath walked up to a man who appeared to be some form of dark elf, and one of high social status by the look of his apparel.

"Are you the one called Neloth?" asked the superior.

"Ah, so you've heard of me, then. And who might you be?" answered the elf in an arrogant tone.

"Someone interested in acquiring something in your possession. A certain black book, to be precise."

The elf's eyes narrowed.

"So, you've come here seeking the lost knowledge of Hermaeus Mora? Well, sorry friend. That black book is the only one of its kind I could get, and I'm not about to part with it anytime soon."

Wrath smirked sinisterly. "I figured as much."

The next thing Neloth knew, his torso had been severed from his waist. Wrath dematerialized his axe just as the elf's corpse collapsed to the ground, sending the other villagers running back inside their homes. The superior kicked Neloth's torso aside and proceeded towards the dead elf's home. Inside we found all manner of magical items and potions scattered about along the walls and shelves. Eventually we found a black book larger than any other in the room and covered in ancient runes and inscriptions on the cover. Wrath held up the book in front of us.

"So, how does it work?" inquired Xeranov.

"If I read his notes correctly, all I have to do is open it, and the rest will explain itself." answered Wrath.

He opened the book to a random page and held it there. Nothing happened.

"Hmm, perhaps I made a mistake-"

Before he could continue, several glowing green tentacles suddenly protruded from the page, wrapped around him and Xeranov, and pulled them in. I tried to free them, but as soon as they touched the page, both of them vanished into thin air, leaving only the book behind. Panicking, I desperately searched through the room, trying to find out what had happened to my companions. I found something about a strange realm called 'Apocrypha' that the book transported you to. Apparently that realm was the domain of the deity Hermaeus Mora, and where all of his knowledge was available. A few minutes passed, and the book began to shake violently where it sat. Cautiously, I took a step toward it. Just as I did, the book burst open, and Wrath and Xeranov came flying out, the latter being drenched in some kind of black liquid and the former landing flat on his face.

"Horrible…utterly horrible…so many tentacles…" Xeranov muttered.

"Xeranov! Are you alright?" I said, kneeling beside her.

"I-I think so…"

She looked as though she had seen something that shocked her beyond comparison. I helped her to her feet.

"What happened in there?"

"We met Hermaeus Mora, and the superior asked him a bunch of questions. He said he'd give us knowledge, but only if we gave him some of our own. He…did something to us. I saw things…I saw myself…I saw a woman, dressed in red…I saw you."

Her purple eyes stared straight into mine.

"I saw us. The real us. We knew each other, even before becoming nobodies."

The sudden revelation shocked me, but the implication of her last comment and the intensity of her gaze shocked me even more. _We knew each other in our past lives? How? And…what exactly were we to each other? _My mind swarmed with questions. Before I could ask any of them though, the superior began to stir. I quickly shot Xeranov a glance that said we'd continue this later, then went to his side.

"Superior, how are you?"

He groaned and rubbed his injured face, then a devious smirk unlike any I had seen before crept onto his lips.

"I've never felt better. Mora gave me all the information I needed, and then some." he said with a chuckle. "It seems I was right to send Ms. Ira on her little errand. Thanks to her, I will have everything I need to properly control the child of destruction once it is born. However, before that I must attend to a more immediate matter."

"What are you talking about?"

"Our friends the Covenant have been making preparations for a grand assault on the nation of Windbloom. They intend to take the EOT out of commission. If this is to be the end of our second greatest threat, then I cannot let this opportunity slip by. Pull yourselves together, you two. We've got a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it."

With that, we started heading back to the others. I noticed Xeranov keeping her gaze turned toward the ground most of the way, occasionally glancing up at me with a mixture of emotions that I could not decipher. When we were crossing the last hill of ash between us and the others, I saw what looked like pillars of smoke and blazing blue fire rising from the small town we arrived in. Quickly, the three of us made our way back to the town. When we got there, all manner of slaughtered demons and townsfolk were strewn about here and there. Our allies stood with darkfire sword and fists raised, and appeared to be fairly uninjured.

"What the hell happened here?" demanded Wrath.

"The Covenant just showed up out of nowhere and started attacking everything in sight." Thryx replied in his robotic voice. Maybe if he took that helmet off he could speak more normally.

"They put up a good fight, but their skills were not enough to best us."

"**Oh? How about mine, then?" **a deep voice suddenly said.

In the next instant, Thryx's head was gone. Punched clean off his shoulders by a huge fist. We all turned to see a massive demon man with dark skin, pink eyes, ram horns, and a tail dressed in gladiator like armor cracking his knuckles as he smiled at us.

"I take it you are the infamous Astaroth?" said Wrath.

"**Heh, that's correct, little man. You must be White Steel Wrath, the self proclaimed lord of the multiverse." **

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that. Not yet, anyway. I'm sure you'd love to have a nice little chat with us, but I'm afraid we have business to attend to."

The superior motioned for me to create a portal back to base. Considering the fact that our opponent was a high ranking general for the Covenant, I did so without a moment's hesitation. I stepped into it with him and Xeranov. However, Akuma didn't move from his spot.

"Akuma, come on!" Wrath demanded.

"No." said the martial artist. "This one looks like he can provide me with a decent challenge. When I'm done with him, I'll return."

"**Hoh? 'When you're done with me'? You make it sound as if beating me will be an easy task."**

Both Akuma and Astaroth smiled insanely as they took their respective combat stances. As they began to shower each other with blows, the superior rolled his eyes and told us to be on our way.

* * *

When we returned to the castle, the superior left for his study, leaving me alone with Xeranov. I pulled her alongside me until we were somewhere private, then began my interrogation.

"Start talking. What did you mean, you saw the 'real us'? What do you mean 'we know each other'?" I growled.

She nodded shyly before taking a deep breath to begin.

"I don't know all the details, but I can say for certain that the people I saw were us. They had the exact same faces, and the exact same weapons. Me, you, and that other girl in red. The three of us were always together."

She put her hand to her chest.

"I…I didn't find out her name, but I think…I think that I was in love with the girl in red."

"And us? What were we to each other?" I asked nervously.

"We were…friends. Best friends. Even after the other girl disappeared for a while, we were still best friends."

I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief at this. _Just friends…thank god. I was afraid for a moment that we were lovers. _

"Yes…we were friends…but, that was in a different life." she continued.

I opened my eyes again at this. To my surprise, I found her pressing herself against me, a furious blush on her face as she stared up at me.

"X-Xeranov?"

"That other girl is long dead, and she isn't coming back. You've always been kind to me, even though I'm weak. You truly are my best friend. But…" she put her hands on either side of my face. "I want to be more than that."

I knew what she was doing, and my eyes widened in horror as she pulled my face down to meet hers.

"Akaxi, I-"

"Don't…"

She stopped dead in her tracks at my rejection. I could feel my eyes begin to water as I took her hands off my face.

"Don't you dare say it. If you say it, they'll make me kill you too."

I could see the hurt in her eyes. "But, I lo-"

"Just shut up! No one can feel that way around me…no one can live if I care about them as more than a friend. I'm sorry, but please…forget about those feelings. Find someone else. Someone who's not so scared…"

I turned around and started to march away. I thought I heard soft sobs echo down the halls after me. _I'm sorry, Xeranov. You probably hate me now, but at least you'll stay alive. It's better this way…_ I shook my head as uncertainty began to seep into my mind. A few hours later, the superior summoned me again. When I reentered the throne room, I noticed that new nobodies had filled two of the vacant seats. Their hoods were up, so I had no idea what either of them looked like. Akuma had returned, and was covered in burns and bruises.

"Who won?" I asked as I passed him.

"Draw." was all he said.

I left it at that and took my seat beside Vanitas. Noticing that Wrath wasn't here yet, I decided to ask him about the newcomers to the Acolytes.

"Who, those two? Some chick he brought back using whatever that Felicity person brought back in that big bag. Man was she pissed, you should have seen the look she gave Wrath when she handed over the bag. I thought for sure she was gonna slap him." he answered.

"What about the other one, the guy over by Esudx?"

"Don't know. All they told me was that his name was Shyaax, and that he was supposedly a kickass fist fighter that could rival some guy called Ikxaru or something."

While the name held no meaning for Vanitas, I was well aware of the combat capabilities of the former No. 2 before he turned against us. Just then, Wrath entered the room, blood stains on his armor and carrying a strange looking dagger with a thunderbolt shaped blade.

"Thank you all for waiting. I apologize for my lateness, but my client was having a hard time letting go of something I needed. But as you can see, it all worked out in the end." he said, twirling the dagger around in his hand.

"Now, as you may have noticed we have two new members. Now I'm sure you're all wondering, why would I put a couple of people who I only recently created into such a prestigious position as the Acolytes? Simple. I am well aware of their skills, and you will all have a chance to see them first hand when we join the Covenant's assault on Windbloom. Well, that's the explanation for Shyaax, but our other guest has a different reason for being here besides strength."

He motioned for the unknown woman to approach. She obeyed silently and walked until she stood beside him.

"I have learned recently," the superior continued. "That there is more to the prophecy than I once believed. I now know how to achieve my desires."

He pulled down the woman's hood.

"Whoever controls her, controls the child of destruction."

Some of us gasped at the sight of the woman, others were staring in silent shock. The superior smiled wickedly and put her hood back on.

"We make for Windbloom! Prepare for battle!"

* * *

**Windbloom, a few days later…**

* * *

_**Hisana**_

* * *

I struggled to keep back tears of regret as I made my way to White's apartment. The look she had given me when I called her a monster had been just like the one Shinzo had given me. _Just before she… _I shook my head, not wanting to recount those memories. I had been angry with White when I saw her ruthlessly attacking my mother, which is probably why I found it so hard to believe her when she tried to deny what mother told us. Actually, I found the whole scenario hard to believe. Sending letters to Yuu, but also giving away vital information? Now that I thought about it, it did seem a little far fetched. And that only made me feel guiltier about what I said. Since she was put under house arrest, she has yet to come out of her room. I wanted to apologize to her, try and hear her side of the story again, but she wouldn't let anybody in. She told us she wanted to be left alone, but I could hear her crying at night, begging for someone to come and take her away from this place. Today I planned to try to talk to her again.

"This time, I'll be more forceful. I'll definitely get her to talk." I promised to myself.

Just as I finished talking, the city's invasion alarm went off. Soldiers began running past me, armed to the teeth with various weaponry. I noticed Mikasa, a woman with dark hair and a scarf whose group of specialist soldiers had joined us a while back, was among them. I quickly ran over to her.

"Mikasa, what's going on?"

She turned toward me with a fierce look in her eye as she drew her swords.

"It's the Covenant, they're here! The city is under attack!"


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Fall of Justice**

* * *

**Windbloom**

* * *

_**General P.O.V.**_

* * *

Chaos erupted all across the grand city. From the south and east gates, the demon armies of the Cobalt Covenant burned everything in sight. From the south and west, the Agents of Wrath paved a path of death and darkness. The Enforcers of Truth were forced to spread their troops thin in order to meet the rising threats, causing the level of destruction to rise exponentially. Not even civilians were spared from the battle, and before long the blood of the innocent ran through the streets, becoming indistinguishable with that of the warriors. In the midst of this chaos, White Steel Wrath searched for one opponent in particular. He had to cut his way through a fair number of soldiers until he finally found the man he was looking for. Kurai Shosetsuka strode toward his counterpart with his sword already drawn, his normally competitive fighting spirit too stained by guilt and anger to allow him to enjoy the fight. Wrath smirked intelligently as he summoned his axe and strode to meet him.

"I was hoping I'd find you here, old friend." the counterpart began. "I was beginning to worry the demon queen killed you before I could get the chance."

"Believe me, I wish she had when I gave her the chance. It would have saved me the trouble of having to put you down myself, and I could have properly paid for the wrongs I have dealt her." answered Kurai.

Both fighters stood facing each other, no longer aware of the cries of battle raging around them. Wrath raised his axe.

"You will die, Kurai Shosetsuka, but it will be by my hand, not another's."

"All this time, and you still cling to delusions…very well, if that is what you've decided," Kurai readied his sword. "Then nothing more need be said."

Wrath made the first move, and charged forward with a thrust from the pommel of his axe. Kurai sidestepped out of the way and slashed at his counterpart's head. Wrath ducked under the strike and swung as he stepped back. Kurai jumped over the large blade and struck downward. His counterpart raised his weapon vertically to block it, then shoved the sword smith back. Just as Kurai landed on the ground, Wrath swung again, smacking him with the flat of his blade. The sword smith blocked the strike and went skidding to a halt some ten feet away. Quickly recovering, he dashed forward with lightning speed and thrust at his counterpart. Wrath barely dodged the attack, and was struck by the sword smith's fist before he could recover. The counterpart could feel a large bruise form on his cheek shortly before it disappeared. He smirked before charging forward and spinning his axe in a 1080˚ horizontal arc, using his momentum to add force to the already huge weapon. Kurai blocked the first strike, but the second one knocked his sword aside long enough for the third blow to land. The sword smith cringed as the newly formed gash on his waist spewed blood. Before his counterpart could act again, Kurai quickly charged forward and rammed the hilt of his sword into Wrath's gut, causing the counterpart to stagger back and leaving him open for the upward slash that followed. Wrath grit his teeth as he waited for his injured eye to regenerate, and rushed Kurai with a quick flurry of strikes. The sword smith deflected every one of the blows, and redirected the last one so that his counterpart's axe lodged itself in the ground. While Wrath tried to free his weapon, Kurai jumped toward him and sent a powerful slash that flung his counterpart back. Wrath bounced painfully off the ground a few times before catching himself and rising back to his feet.

"Well, I'll say this much. You've certainly improved since our last battle." Kurai said as he approached. "I see you took my advice, as I haven't seen you pull out someone else's blade yet."

Wrath smirked as the sword smith entered striking range. "On the contrary, old friend…"

Before Kurai knew what was happening, Wrath surged forward and plunged a small blade of some kind threw his chest.

"I've just been waiting for the right moment to use one. It seems you've gotten quite sloppy."

The sword smith watched as his counterpart summoned a grey keyblade to his hand, just before using it to break his legs in two fell swings. Another quick blow to his arm caused Kurai to drop his sword. While Wrath bent down to retrieve it, the sword smith took a look at the blade in his chest. It was an ornate dagger with a zigzag like blade that glowed with some strange power.

"Do you recognize that blade? It's called 'Rulebreaker'. Originally, it was used by the Servant Caster to turn other Servants into her slaves." the counterpart explained. "But since I won it from her, I now hold dominion over its powers. Did you know, that Rulebreaker also has the power to bend the laws of the world to suit its master?"

Wrath smiled insanely as Kurai's eyes widened in realization.

"You bastard… are you saying…?"

Wrath nodded. "Now that this blade has pierced you, the link that binds me to you is broken. Sorry, but this multiverse isn't big enough for two of us."

The counterpart raised Kurai's sword with hatred and glee shining in his eyes.

"There can be only one!"

_SCHWING!_

Kurai's body slumped over in a lifeless heap as his severed head rolled from its shoulders. Wrath began to cackle insanely as he stared at the sword smith's still horror struck face.

"Heh…hehehehehe…heheHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA! Yes! At long last, I am victorious! You shall hinder me no more, Kurai Shosetsuka!"

The counterpart lifted his armored boot and hovered it over the sword smith's head.

"With your death, I mark the first big step towards my revenge. Have fun burning in hell!"

_CRUNCH!_

* * *

**Not far away…**

* * *

Nasumora was struggling to keep his focus as battle raged all around him. The young boy was currently trying to get his mother and Nana out of the city, knowing full well that an attack of this magnitude could very well destroy them if they lingered for too long. Still, the endless flood of demons and heartless made it difficult to get away. Nana helped him to hold off the creatures, since none of them were human, but even with the help of her vectors and his mother's scythe, the hordes continued to come at them. Finally, after what felt like an hour of relentless hacking and slashing, an opening presented itself.

"Mom, over there! Go!" he said as another heartless charged him.

Oxymi looked hesitantly back at her son. "No Nasu-kun, you first!"

"Mom, there's no time! Go now while you have the chance! Nana and I will catch up with you later!"

Oxymi looked at the escape route, then back at her son and his friend. Maternal instinct kicked in, and she grabbed Nasumora by the back of his collar.

"No, I'll catch up with you."

The next thing the young boy knew, he was flying away from his mother and the battle. He tried to get up, when and equally surprised Nana landed on top of him. Gently removing the young girl from his body, Nasumora stood up and looked back at Oxymi.

"Mom!" he called.

His mother struggled against the endless onslaught that was now focused entirely on her. The scythe wielder grit her teeth, and broke into a lightning fast blur of green and black. Moments later, she stopped and swung her scythe to the side. As if in response, blood and darkness exploded from the monsters, and they disappeared into hellfire and emptiness. Nasumora breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled at his mother. Oxymi returned the smile.

"A little something I picked up from your father. Now, let's get out of h-"

No sooner had she spoken, than the pitch black blade of a serrated longsword burst through her chest, spilling green/black blood all over the ground in front of her. Both Nasumora and Nana watched in utter horror as Oxymi coughed once, then fell forward off of the blade.

"NO!" the young boy cried.

As his mother hit the ground, her attacker became visible. Holding the longsword was an unknown woman clad in the familiar black cloak of a nobody, just like the one his mother wore. The woman was looking off to the side, not even meeting the enraged boy's eyes as she lowered her weapon. Without thinking, Nasumora readied his weapon and yelled in anger as he charged the woman. She still did not look at him, even as she effortlessly deflected his rage fueled strikes. Just as Nasumora prepared to lunge again, he suddenly felt something sharp and jagged tear into his stomach. He looked down in shock to see another longsword in the woman's other hand sticking into him. Blood rose to his mouth, causing him to gurgle out an incoherent mess in response. The woman tilted her head slightly toward him, but not enough for him to see her features, then with a flick of her finger sent the boy flying off her sword and onto the ground in front of Nana. The young girl knelt down beside her friend and his mother with tears in her eyes. The sound of footsteps caused her to look up. The hooded woman was standing over her now, with her dripping swords raised in an 'X' like fashion as she prepared to strike. Nana knew fully well that at this range she could easily rip the woman in half with her vectors, but something about the mere presence of this foe caused her to tremble in fear. Just as the woman was about to end her, something resembling a grappling hook shot into the ground on either side of her. The woman looked at the odd contraptions in confusion before an angry yell brought her attention back to her front, just in time to receive a swift kick to the chest from a young man with dark hair clad in yellow and tan gear. Odd devices strapped to either side of his waist served as the source of the grappling hooks, and from them he drew a pair of shining ultra-hard steel swords. Nasumora found the strength to sit up partially and look at the man.

"Captain…Jaeger?" he said hoarsely.

The man glanced over his shoulder at them.

"How bad are they hurt?" he demanded.

"They've both been stabbed in critical locations. If I hurry, I think I can get them to safety." Nana answered.

"Do it. We'll take care of this bitch."

"We?"

Eren Jaeger smiled fiercely as legions of warriors with the same weapons and attire as him appeared on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Mikasa leapt down beside him, swords already drawn.

"We'll buy you time, so you better run for it." she ordered.

Nana nodded. Using her vectors, she picked up Nasumora and Oxymi and ran as fast as she could. By this time, the hooded woman had recovered, and was waiting for her opponents with swords readied. As soon as Nana and the others were out of sight, Eren and Mikasa charged toward the woman, followed shortly by the rest of the Survey Corps. Well over a hundred pairs of blades came spiraling toward her, with no possible escape in sight. She was completely surrounded. A wicked smile with fanged teeth could be seen under her hood. Four more swords like the ones in her hands suddenly appeared around her. The Survey Corps soldiers could only watch as the woman began to wield each sword simultaneously with impossible speed, spinning in a circle like some kind of giant fan. One by one, she cut the soldiers to ribbons as they attacked her. Because they had all harpooned themselves to the ground around her, there was no way for them to redirect their course. The only chance they had was to hope that they could get in a strike before the woman turned her attention towards them, and even then their chances were slim. In a matter of minutes, more than half of the entire Survey Corps was reduced to bloody bits. Those that remained cut their lines and stood on the ground, shaking with a mixture of fear and rage. The woman's uniform was soaked in the blood of so many of their allies that it was no longer black, now just the deep crimson of blood. The four extra blades vanished, reducing her to just the two in her hands once again. The remaining soldiers either fled in fear or ran towards the woman in rage. With so much as flinching, the hooded woman cut down the rage induced attackers. Now only Eren and Mikasa were left to face her. The former was shaking with uncertainty. On the one hand, he was furious at the woman for making a mockery of his friends by cutting them down so effortlessly. On the other, he knew that as much as he wanted to avenge their deaths, it was more than obvious that whoever this woman was, she was far beyond his skill. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Mikasa nod at him in encouragement.

"We'll do it together." she said.

He paused for a moment, then nodded back. "Yeah, let's do this."

At that, the pair readied their weapons and charged. The woman swung to meet them, and to her surprise they leapt over her strikes. Now behind her, Eren and Mikasa quickly thrust their blades through the woman's back. She stiffened at the sudden injuries, and staggered a bit. Then to the shock of both Mikasa and Eren, the woman walked straight off their blades as though it were nothing. Eren saw her muscles twitch in preparation for a slash, and quickly shoved Mikasa back. In the next instant, the woman spun around and cut him clean in half with a single strike. Mikasa watched in awestruck terror as her dearest friend's corpse collapsed to the ground in front of her. She felt her body begin to move on its own, to raise her blades and enter a lightning fast flurry of slashes. The woman countered her attacks with equal speed, never once faltering as both of them increased the force and speed behind their attacks. However, it was only a matter of time until Mikasa's rage got the better of her. One of her strikes went wide, allowing the woman enough time to stab her in both the arm and chest at the same time. As Mikasa's vision turned dark, the last thing she saw was the demonic eyes of the woman who singlehandedly bested her and her entire unit.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

* * *

Yuu stormed determinedly through the streets, stopping only to fight off a swarm of heartless or EOT soldiers. She had learned through interrogating one of them where White lived, and after crushing that solider's skull took off to find her lover. A few ruined buildings and incinerated troops later, and she found the apartment complex. The structure lay in an untouched part of the city, so it had yet to receive any damage. Just as the demoness took a few steps forward, she suddenly found her path blocked by a familiar face with shining sapphire eyes. Yuu glared at the person as they gave her a look of sympathy.

"Ebony..." the demoness growled.

The pale woman took a step toward her.

"Yuu, I don't know what she's said to you, but its time for you to learn the truth."

"And just who and what would that be?"

"Ivory was just using you, she was manipulating your feelings so that she could send you the EOT's military secrets. All she wants is chaos! But I know that you must realize this war isn't the answer, that we should help Evelyn get back to her normal self, and put a stop to the destruction! But as long as Ivory remains alive, the destruction will continue. I know you, Yuu. I know you want peace."

Ebony held out a hand to the demoness and smiled.

"All I ask is that you help me. Let's be rid of her, and work towards a better future for our children."

Yuu stared at the outstretched hand, an unclear expression on her face. After a moment, she smiled and began to extend her own hand.

"You know what..."

Just as her fingers were about to close around Ebony's, she suddenly clenched them into a fist and punched the pale woman straight in the face.

"FUCK YOU!"

Ebony was sent staggering back a few steps in shock. Yuu now glared at her with everything she had.

"You haven't changed a bit, Ebony. Even after all this time, you are still oblivious to the truth!"

With that, she stormed inside the apartment and headed for White's room. Once she got there, she found the other self to be nowhere in sight. There were signs of struggle, implying that she had been forcefully removed from the room. Fuming with rage, the demoness ran out into the hall, where a confused Ebony awaited her. Before the pale woman could utter a single word, Yuu tightly clasped her hands around her throat.

"Where. Is. She?" demanded Yuu.

"Strength...taking her...somewhere...secure...somewhere...she can't...escape!" Ebony choked out.

With an angry shout, the demoness tossed the pale woman aside. Ebony gasped for breath as she staggered to her feet, watching Yuu shake with anger as she stormed outside. Quickly, she ran to the demoness and stepped in front of her.

"You're not seriously going after her, are you?"

"Damn right I am!"

"But why? She tricked you! She only made you think you're in love, she must have! She doesn't care for anybody but herself!"

At this, the demoness had had enough. An aura of hellfire erupted around Yuu as she formed her mask and enlarged her fists.

**"You heartless bitch...get out of my way!"**

Yuu sent a powerful right hook at Ebony. The pale woman quickly drew Achreios and blocked the strike seconds before it made impact. The sympathetic look in Ebony's eyes turned into a regretful glare.

"I see...so once again you are corrupted beyond hope. I'm sorry it came to this, but you leave me no other choice."

She drew her zanpakuto.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki."

As the pale woman's second sword entered shikai, Yuu struck her respective combat stance and narrowed her burning blue eyes.

**"You're gonna pay for what you did to her!" **

The demoness surged forward and unleashed a quick volley of punches and kicks on her opponent. Ebony blocked most of the strikes, but the tremendous force behind them caused her guard to falter, and the last few blows landed perfectly. She leapt back out of the demoness' reach and quickly stabbed four spots on the ground in front of her. Holding her zanpakuto in a thrust position, she took aim at her opponent.

"Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren!"

A torrent of ice and snow burst from her blade toward Yuu. The demoness raised her fists, encased them in hellfire, then slammed them into the ground with an inhuman roar. A gargantuan wave of hellfire exploded towards Ebony, boiling away her attack with its immense heat. The pale woman held her swords in a defensive position just as the wave crashed into her. Ebony emerged from the blast still standing, though the force of the it had pushed her through a fair number of now crumbling buildings, leaving her littered with burns and bruises. An inhuman roar told her Yuu was quickly approaching, so she readied her swords and charged to meet the demoness. Yuu swung wildly at her opponent, but her recklessness allowed Ebony to dodge and counter with a quick flurry of slashes from both blades. The blows dealt by Achreios left smoking cuts on her armored skin, but Yuu paid them no heed. Returning her arms to normal size, she lashed out with both of them. Ebony directed her blades to block the strikes, but discovered too late that it was merely a feint. Yuu's tail shot out from behind her and wrapped around the pale woman's waist. Before Ebony could react, Yuu spun around and flung her into the air. The demoness pulled back her hellfire covered fist in preparation as the pale woman began to descend. As soon as she was within range, Yuu jumped up and delivered a spiraling uppercut that struck Ebony directly in her ribs. The pale woman coughed up a fair amount of blood at the sound of her bones snapping. Yuu shouted angrily before sending a second punch that launched her opponent into a distant part of the battlefield. No longer concerned with the pale woman, Yuu reached out with her senses until she found Strength. She felt the presence of three others nearby her counterpart, one of which was her lover.

**"Hang on White, I'm coming!" **she declared.

Following her senses, the demoness burned and punched her way through building and enemy alike until she found her counterpart. Strength was making her way down an unoccupied street, with Saya and Tsuyo-sa following close beside her with their weapons drawn. Yuu saw her lover slung over her counterpart's shoulder, bound and unconscious.

**"Why is it that whenever we meet, you are always doing something to royally piss me off?" **the demoness growled, making her presence known.

Strength and her family turned toward Yuu, already entering their respective combat stances. The short counterpart stared at her with luminescent amber eyes.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. Yuu, why are you still like this? Why are you still so full of anger?" she said. "I had hoped that after all this time, you'd learned to let it go."

**"Let it go?! You expect me to just let you get away with how you've treated the first person to ever truly love me?! I don't think so!"**

"So it's as Ebony said," Saya interjected. "You really have been fooled into thinking there is love between you."

Yuu's hateful gaze intensified as she focused on the red eyed swordswoman.

**"Even you, Saya-san? I'd have expected far better from you."**

She then turned to Tsuyo-sa, who stared at her with uncertainty.

**"You must be Tsuyo-sa Irino, the offspring of these two." **

"Th-that's right." the young woman stuttered.

**"You were there when I first joined the Covenant. Tell me, what do you make of the feelings between me and White? Do you, like your parents, believe it is nothing more than a lie?"**

Tsuyo-sa paused at this. "I...I'm not sure. From the way you spoke to her, it seemed like you cared about each other. But what Ms. Ebony said seemed to be true as well..."

She shook her head.

"Oh, I just don't know!"

Before our conversation could continue any further, a trail of blue energy flew past Saya. As soon as it was gone, a large bruise appeared on her stomach, and she went flying back. Standing a few feet in front of her previous position was a tall man wearing the black cloak of a nobody. His arms were crossed, and glowing blue markings that covered most of his body shone through his clothing. He turned toward me, but his hood prevented me from seeing his face.

"Do not think that I am aiding you. I, Shyaax, have been sent here by the superior to dispose of these three." he said in a calm and collected voice.

**"I don't give a damn about why you're here. Just stay out of my way."** Yuu countered.

The man nodded, then turned toward Tsuyo-sa. In the next instant, he vanished, and reappeared in front the young woman with his foot thrust forward. Tsuyo-sa blocked the blow, but the lightning fast flurry of punches that followed afterwards sent her flying back. The man broke into a ninja like run to chase after her. Saya was knocked out from the earlier blow, having crashed into quite a few piles of rubble before finally coming to a halt, so now the only one left to challenge Yuu was her counterpart.

**"Well, that's convenient. Now it's just me and you. But you know what, I've had to deal with so much shit lately that I'm tired of fighting. So because we're so close, I'll make you a deal. Hand over White, and I'll go take care of that prick in the black for you and get out of your hair."**

Strength hesitated a moment, then glared at the demoness and shook her head.

"I can't do that. As much as I want to believe that you're right, that this is all just a misunderstanding, I fear you'll just turn her loose on us, and then we'll have even more trouble. If you want her that badly, then you'll have to take her by force."

The counterpart shifted White so that she was wrapped in her tail, allowing Strength the full use of her arms. Yuu merely glared at her counterpart.

**"I see. As always, despite us being two sides of the same person.." **

The demoness burst toward Strength, completely surrounded by hellfire and eyes burning with fury.

**"You understand me the least!"**

Strength managed to catch Yuu's fist before it struck her face, and redirected it to the ground. But the demoness was undeterred, and used her trapped appendage as a pole to deliver a spinning kick that took Strength's legs out from under her. The counterpart quickly rolled to the side as a punch aimed at her face blew apart the ground behind her. Getting to her feet, Strength converted her fingers into mini guns and opened fire on the demoness. The large bullets did nothing to stop Yuu's advance, and merely bounced off of her on impact. Before Strength could try a different approach, Yuu lunged forward and struck her to the ground with her elbow. The counterpart began to rise, when her face was replanted into the pavement by the demoness' foot. Whether or not the blow had been lethal didn't matter to Yuu, as she dematerialized her mask and picked up her unconscious lover. White stirred slightly in her arms, and slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing the demoness' face, she smiled.

_**"Yuu...you came for me...you really came..."**_she said softly as tears of joy began to fill her eyes.

Yuu smiled lovingly down at her. "Of course I came...I love you, White..."

The demoness gently put a hand on her lover's cheek, and the two of them closed the distance.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

* * *

The doors of Fuuka Palace's throne room burst open, allowing the nobodies Akaxi and Xeranov access. Despite recent events, the two had agreed to set aside their personal feelings for the duration of the battle. It had been an easy process to storm the castle, as the combined strength of all the female nobodies (minus a certain blood stained fighter) were more than a match for the guards. While the others had remained behind to finish clearing out the courtyard, Akaxi and Xeranov had chosen to go straight for the royal family. If Windbloom lost its leaders, then what little remained of the EOT would cower in fear before running or letting themselves be slaughtered. Akaxi had expected that the monarchs would run and hide as most often did, so she was quite surprised to find one of them still sitting calmly in their throne. But what was really shocking was the fact that the monarch looked exactly the same as her, in every way besides their attire. Queen Kaia gazed upon the intruders with a sort of calmness that also portrayed suppressed ferocity. Upon catching sight of her, the queen's gaze focused on Akaxi. However, she did not show surprise, only...interest.

"So, the rumors were true. There really is a nobody of myself." she said in a regal tone. "And apparently, of Verona too."

Her gaze shifted to the weapon in her look alike's hands.

"That halberd...I haven't seen that since I was an otome. It looks like it works quite well for a copy of the original."

Akaxi was too stunned by how similar she and the queen looked to form a response. Judging by what she was saying, this person was who she had been created from, her real self. Akaxi glanced at Xeranov, who nodded in confirmation to her thoughts. Upon hearing a name, Xeranov then turned toward the queen.

"Verona...is that my real name? The name of your best friend?" she asked.

Kaia nodded. "Yes, Verona was my closest friend. Were it not for her, I would have fallen into despair long ago."

She turned to address Akaxi.

"You are me, so it's only fitting that I tell you my name. I am Kaia Wong de Windbloom, queen of this city."

"Kaia..." Akaxi repeated.

"It may not be my place to ask, but I am curious. Do the two of you share the same bond Verona and I had? Or perhaps, something more?"

Both nobodies fell silent and glanced away from each other at this. Akaxi bore an expression of guilt, while Xeranov looked on the verge of tears. It didn't take long for Kaia to piece together the meaning behind the expressions.

"I see. Troubles with commitment, then? Or rather, one of you isn't being honest?"

"Something...like that." Xeranov whispered.

"Why are you talking to us so casually?" Akaxi growled without looking at the queen. "So what if you're my real self? Shouldn't it be more than obvious why we're here?"

Kaia chuckled lightly as she rose.

"I know why you're here, and I've already resigned myself to accept whatever hand fate has dealt me. My son is already safe, miles away from this place, so there's no reason for any of us to hold back."

The queen walked over to a large display case near her throne and opened it.

"However, do not think that I will simply allow you to slay me. I may not be an otome anymore..."

She reached inside the case, then quickly turned around, holding an enormous zweihander with a gold hit and a large, broad blade.

"But I am far from helpless." at seeing the surprised looks from the two nobodies, she smirked. "What? You didn't think I won my people's respect just because of my looks, did you? When you have a husband like mine, it becomes a necessity to keep in shape."

Akaxi silently agreed, still stunned that the slender woman was holding a sword as big as her entire body as though it were nothing. Kaia's smirk turned into a serious glare, and she readied her sword. Her opponents readied their own weapons, and soon enough the room was filled with the sounds of clashing metal. The queen had not exaggerated, she was indeed a force to be reckoned with. Despite being only human, Kaia kept up with the speed of her opponents fairly well, and more than once actually caught them off guard. But still, she was only human. Eventually, the queen could no longer continue her struggle. After a combined attack from both Akaxi and Xeranov, Kaia's sword was torn from her grasp, and she was flung against the wall as a large gash was cut across her side. The queen managed to rise to her feet, clutching her wound as it darkened with blood. Cringing, she looked up to find Akaxi with her halberd aimed straight at her heart. Kaia chuckled lightly, and lowered her head.

"Damn...I was actually hoping I wouldn't have to die today...oh well, not bad for two on one, huh?" she said.

Akaxi looked at her real self in confusion. From what she could tell, the queen had been fighting back out of her love for her family and kingdom, and though she had lost, she was still standing strong. _But...that doesn't make sense...isn't love supposed to make one weak? _As if sensing her thoughts, Kaia looked back up at Akaxi and smiled.

"Do not be so afraid of love. It is not weakness, but strength. When you feel it, but won't admit it, _then_ it becomes weakness. As odd a couple as the two of you make, you shouldn't keep her waiting. If she loves you, and you love her, then accept it. You'll find there's a strength within you that you never knew existed." she said.

Once again, Akaxi and Xeranov were stunned by the queen.

"Don't look so surprised. We are the same person, after all."

_She is strong...and she is wise...she read my thoughts and spoke to me and Xeranov as if she had known us all her life...truly, she is worthy of the throne of her kingdom. _Akaxi thought. Kaia then nodded, closed her eyes, and stood still, awaiting the end. For some reason, Akaxi found herself hesitant to strike the final blow. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she glanced back at Xeranov. Her friend gave her an encouraging smile and nodded. For some reason, the gesture restrengthened her resolve. Akaxi turned back to her real self, held her blade steady, and thrust. Kaia cringed, but smiled nonetheless as the weapon pierced her. She remained standing for a few moments before slowly backing away, removing herself from the blade. The queen sat down in her throne, and locked eyes with Akaxi one last time.

"Heed my words, shadow of myself. There is much more to be found in the world than power. From now on, you must be the maker of your own fate."

With that, Kaia exhaled deeply, and reclined in her throne. With her head still held high, the queen of Windbloom passed from this world.

* * *

**At the same time...**

* * *

The demon queen could not help but smile as she stood atop the smoldering remains of countless human soldiers. Both her inner and outer self found a dark pleasure in watching as the city that had tormented her in her youth burned. Even through the small slits in her eye mask, her burning blue eyes shone. She had dressed herself in a suit of midnight blue armor, which covered her chest, waist, arms, legs and eyes. Her partially distended stomach that held her child was unprotected, but she had never once allowed anything to come near her precious little one during her many skirmishes. Strife felt a small fit of laughter begin to build up and release as she rained a huge barrage of hellfire down on a row of buildings.

**"Yes...burn...all of you will burn...this is what you all wanted, is it not? I have finally become the monster you believed me to be, and it was all thanks to you." **she said.

The clanking of metal boots approaching caused her to smile wickedly.

**"So you finally show yourself, King of Windbloom. Tell me, what do you think of this sight? Your city of cruelty and hate is burning, a punishment the scum that inhabit it should have faced long ago. When I was a child, I prayed that the rumors praising Windbloom as a bastion of hope and peace would be true. Even when I was mocked and outcasted merely because of my name, I chose to hope that the great king Siegfried, hero of the people, would come to my aid and put an end to my torment. But, just like everyone else..."**

Strife turned to face Siegfried, who stood with Requiem already drawn.

**"You abandoned me, and left me to suffer."**

The king stared straight at the demon queen without a shred of emotion.

"I cannot apologize for the actions of my people, nor can I mend the past with words. Yes, I knew of your plight, and I wished to help stop it. But for every person I reprimanded, another took their place. There was nothing I could do to help you."

**"'Nothing you could do', you say? 'Words cannot mend the past'? Foolish king, I have no need of your words, nor do I want them. All my life I have been made to suffer, and just when I had something to hope for, it was taken from me. My beloved Shinzo was murdered, right before my very eyes. No, I don't want to hear your apologies, your desires for peace."**

The demon queen leapt down from her perch, and readied her weapon.

**"I WANT TO HEAR YOU SCREAM! I WANT TO HEAR YOU BEG FOR MERCY AS I DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER LOVED!"**

With that, Strife charged toward Siegfried, hellfire blazing from either end of her dual-spear. The king ran to meet her, slashing and swinging his large sword with a minimum of effort. Strife countered each blow as though swatting a fly. The demon queen attacked relentlessly, never giving her opponent precious time to recover. Soon enough, Siegfried found himself backed against a pile of rubble, trying to hold back the demon queen's blade. While in this position, he caught sight of her exposed stomach. He glared up at her with bared teeth.

"You have truly gone mad, to fight while an infant grows within you! Do you not care for the safety of your child?!"

**"On the contrary, Ryunoko takes precedence over anything else. I am well aware of the toll such actions take on my body, and I intend to rest for the remainder of my pregnancy as soon as your city is reduced to ash. The destruction of Windbloom will make for comforting memories while I wait for Ryunoko to be born."**

"You're insane! Has vengeance really corrupted you so much?"

Strife frowned at this. **"No, not** **vengeance..." **

The demon queen pressed her weapon against Siegfried's until Requiem shattered. With his weapon gone, Siegfried was left helpless as Strife pinned him against the rubble, just before using the tip of her weapon to trace over the scar on his right eye. The king cried out in excruciating pain at the contact, only to be silenced once the demon queen took hold of his neck and lifted him so that they were eye level.

**"It is pain. Pain beyond imagining has driven me to become what I am. But, telling you is pointless. Because just like the rest, you could never understand!"**

At that, Strife plunged her middle and ring finger into the king's eye sockets, causing him to scream in intense pain. The demon queen sent a surge of hellfire through her fingertips that ignited Siegfried from within. As his body began to char, Strife cried out in rage and tore the king's head from his shoulders by her fingers, just before cruelly tossing it aside. As she seethed and panted in anger, she felt a new presence approaching.

"Evelyn..." said a sweet voice.

Strife could feel her face contorting into one of immeasurable rage at hearing the voice.

**"You..."** she growled.

The demon queen wheeled around to face an awestruck Hisana. The vampiress stared at her first in fear, then in sympathy. Ignoring the fact that Strife was now shaking with barely restricted anger, Hisana approached the demon queen.

"Evelyn, stop this. Haven't you done enough? The city is lost, the king is dead, and billions of innocents have been slaughtered! Is this not enough?! Does your hatred know no end? Stop now, and prepare for the coming of your child. Nee-chan wouldn't want to see you like this. Even if I didn't know her as I originally thought, of that I am certain." she said in an unusually angry tone.

Strife continued to glare at the vampiress, and felt her grip on her dual-spear tightening.

**"My, it looks like the little bitch has finally grown up a bit. But you're still forgetting something very, very important." **

Without warning, she lashed out at Hisana.

**"I HATE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE!" **

The vampiress barely managed to dodge to would be lethal blow, and though reluctantly, drew her zanpakuto. Hisana sighed regretfully as she readied her naginata.

"Is there no other way?" she whispered.

The only response Strife gave was an inhuman roar as she exploded toward the vampiress, sending forth a wave of deadly hellfire with a swing of her weapon. Hisana quickly countered it with a powerful wave of ice. This only seemed to enrage the demon queen more, and she rushed toward the vampiress with her weapon thrust forward. Though barely, Hisana stepped out of the path of the strike and attempted to counter with a strike at the demon queen's legs. _She's pregnant, so I don't want to hurt her too much if I can avoid it. I'll have to try to knock her out. _To her surprise, Strife backflipped over the strike and whipped her across the face with her tail. Hisana staggered back in surprise and pain, making her unable to stop the fist that collided with her chin moments after. The blow launched the vampiress high into the air. Strife crouched down to build up strength, then did a superhuman leap to catch up to Hisana. The vampiress recovered moments before the demon queen could decapitate her, and stopped the blazing blade inches from her neck. As the pair began to descend, they exchanged blow after blow, hardly ever faltering against the strength of the other.

**"It was you! It was always you!" **shouted Strife as they fought. **"You were always getting in the way! Always taking her away from me! Because of you, she wouldn't listen! Because of you, she would never know how much I loved her!" **

Eventually, they both sent a powerful slash that blew each other apart. Both fighters landed expertly back on the ground, just before charging toward each other and renewing their clash of steel.

**"It sickened me, how obsessed she was with you!"** the demon queen continued. **"Every hour of every day, she couldn't take her mind off of you! You, her own sister! You, when it should have been me! No matter how much I reached out to her heart, it didn't matter! You had already stolen it away! Even when we were together, I could see that her heart still lied with you!" **

Another dividing clash. This time Hisana took advantage of the distance to call down her arcs of light. As the heavenly rays flew toward Strife, she activated the flames within her spear tips and blasted back the lights with a whirlwind of hellfire. The demon queen dashed through the smoke that rose from the explosion and clashed once again with the vampiress. Hisana backflipped away and onto the roof of a nearby building. Strife followed soon after trading blows as they continued to fight across the crumbling structure.

"It was never my intention to cause you pain!" Hisana spoke at last. "Had I known your true feelings, I would have tried to help nee-chan notice you! But you kept everything inside, you never let anyone in! You should have told me you were hurting! I was your friend, I am still your friend! Now that I know your pain, I want to help you overcome it! But I can't help you if you won't let me understand!"

Strife paused at this, then let loose a demonic roar along with a blast of hellfire that blasted the vampiress from the roof. Before she could rise to her feet, the demon queen dove toward Hisana with one end of her spear pointed downward. The vampiress desperately held her naginata up in defense. The forked blade of Strife's spear caught the singular blade between its tips. Fire and ice sparked as the elements of both weapons struggled to overcome the other. Strife glared with all the hatred in her being at the vampiress.

**"So long as you exist, Shinzo will never truly be mine! I WILL ALWAYS BE IN PAIN!"**

With a terrible cry of anger, the demon queen twisted her spear, shattering the blade of Hisana's zanpakuto. The vampiress watched in stunned silence as her weapon broke like glass, feeling as though a part of herself had died along with the blade. The demon queen then pressed her heel as hard as she could into Hisana's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and rendering her completely helpless. The vampiress felt burning hot metal press lightly against her neck, but still enough to leave a burn.

**"I told you before, did I not? The next time we meet..."**

Strife raised her weapon for the killing blow, eyes glowing with murderous intent.

**"I will destroy you!"**

"NOOOO!" a man's voice suddenly cried out.

Hisana looked up in terror to see Axel lunge at Strife, anger and fear written all over his face. The demon queen turned around and countered his attack with one strong enough to send him flying back.

"Hisana!" a woman's voice shouted.

Ebony emerged from the top of a hill of rubble, Achreios in hand, and ran with Axel to face the demon queen. From where she lay crippled with pain, Hisana could only watch as Strife effortlessly crushed her mother's sword before punching her into a wall, then using a break in Axel's attacks to slash both of his arms at once, causing him to drop his weapons. The demon queen kneed him in the gut, and as he fell to the ground gripping his injury, planted her spear like a spike in the ground. Hisana's eyes widened in horror as she realized what she intended to do. Strife grabbed the pyro by the throat and lifted him off his feet.

**"Hollow vessel in the form of man, submit to my will and begone from my sight!"**

The demon queen lifted Axel as high as she could, then slammed him down on her spear. The pyro let out a silent cry as the forked blade pierced his chest. Fear overtaking reason, Hisana crawled as best she could to where Axel lay motionless. Upon catching sight of the worried vampiress in his blurring vision, the pyro forced himself to smile warmly and take hold of her trembling hand.

"A...xel...?" Hisana whimpered.

With the last of his strength, Axel pressed his lips to her hand and stared lovingly into her eyes.

"Hisana...I love you, got it memorized?"

And so he passed, still gazing at her trembling form, still holding her hand. Before the vampiress even had a chance to shed tears, Axel's body was burned to ashes. Strife glared down at the trembling girl without the slightest hint of sympathy.

**"You want to understand...to know how it feels to lose everything you hold dear. Fine. I shall help you to understand."**

The demon queen reached down and grabbed Hisana by her hair. She ignored the vampiress' pain filled protests as she lifted her up to see Ebony laying trapped beneath the wall she had been punched into. The pale woman reached out to her daughter with what little strength she had left. Hisana felt herself trying to reach out as well. Then, in an instant, her mother was in flames. Strife held her there to watch as Ebony burned, ensuring the vampiress felt as much pain as possible. The sound of footsteps drew the demon queen's attention to her right, where Yuu and White were walking hand in hand toward her. White was unsettled by what she saw at first, but earlier feelings caused her to tune out any regret she might have felt at the time. Satisfied that Hisana wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, Strife threw her limp form to the ground.

**"You must be White."**

The counterpart bowed her head respectfully.

_**"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Queen Strife."**_

**"There's no need to be so formal. Father has told me much about you, and I believe you'd make a wonderful addition to our family."**

By this time, Hisana had recovered enough to sit up and observe the conversation. At the mention of family, White broke into a hopeful smile.

_**"Really? I would be a part of a real family? I would be with**_**_ Yuu?"_**

Strife nodded.

**"I would be honored to have you as my mother." **

The counterpart began to shed tears of joy.

_**"Thank you, Strife! I will try to be my best!"**_she then turned to Yuu. _**"We'll finally be together again."**_

The elder demoness smiled and nodded happily. "And from now on, I'll never let you be alone ever again."

A desperate gasp caused the three of them to turn to Hisana. The vampiress was looking up at White with hopeful eyes, and tried to lift a trembling hand as a request for help. Strife watched the counterpart's reaction out of the corner of her eye. White seemed to hesitate for a moment, then turned away from Hisana.

_**"You abandoned me when I needed you the most, and yet you have the nerve to ask me for help? You never once called me your mother, no matter how hard I tried. I decided to put my trust in you, thinking you were the one person besides Yuu who could understand me. But you're no different than Ebony, no different than the rest of them." **_she looked back at the vampiress and glared. _**"It is as it always has been. I have no children."**_

Hisana felt as though the entire world had turned against her, that somehow, she was now completely alone. Once White had finished, Strife walked a small distance and planted her spear in the ground. As a skyscraper sized pillar of hellfire grew around the weapon, she looked back at the devastated vampiress.

**"With this, I will destroy everything that you hold dear. If by some chance you survive, then perhaps you will finally understand." **

The demon queen motioned for Yuu and White to get under a shield of hellfire, then turned back to her weapon. Taking the blade into both hands, she lifted it out of the ground.

**"Hofuku no Dengeki!" **(retribution blitz) she cried.

At her command, an explosion of hellfire erupted from her spear, engulfing the entire city in flames. Those few who survived the deadly blast will forever remember that battle as the day that justice failed, the day that darkness consumed all light.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: From the Ashes**

* * *

**The remains of Windbloom, sometime after…**

* * *

_**Hisana**_

* * *

"Wake up…"

The voice was like my own, but somewhat different. It sounded vague, distant.

"Wake up…Hisana, you must wake up!"

Slowly, my eyes began to flutter open. The simple movement caused me tremendous pain, which then spread to the rest of my body. It felt as if a burning hot blade was cutting me everywhere on my body, constantly prodding unusually sensitive skin. After what seemed like ages, my eyes finally opened. I saw a swirling dark sky above me, with a suffocating amount of ash descending from what few clouds it held. _So dark…where am I? Is this…Windbloom? _A relieved sigh to my right caused me to turn my attention towards a woman covered in bandages with a face just like mine. The sight of a pair of angelic white wings on her back reminded me that this was my other self, Valkyrie. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but was immediately silenced by a terrible pain in my chest. It felt as though my lungs were on fire. Seeing me struggle, Valkyrie carefully knelt down and rested my head in her lap. It hurt for her to touch me, but I knew she was only trying to help.

"Take it easy, you're still in critical condition. Quite frankly, I'm amazed you're still alive after what Strife did to you. Assuming she is the one who kicked your ass." she said.

Her words reminded me of my battle with my former best friend. Curiosity of how severe my wounds were won over my fear to look, so I directed my gaze down at the rest of my limp form. If they didn't hurt so damn much, I would've screamed at the top of my lungs at what I saw. Evelyn's attack had completely incinerated my armor, and left most of me charred completely black. The severity of the burns was so great that I could almost see my bones, and it didn't stop until just under my sternum. I was afraid to try moving anything at all now, lest my skin tear open and spill out my organs. _Critical condition?! What an understatement! I'm practically dead! Not even Axel could survive- _my train of thought stopped for a moment. _Axel…_ That's right. The man I love was dead. He and mom were killed by Evelynright in front of me. _**"You want to know what it's like…to lose everything? You want to understand? Fine. Then I shall make you understand." **_her words played back in my head. I managed to glance up at my surroundings. Everywhere I looked, it was destroyed. What few buildings still remained were beginning to crumble. All the people who had tried to run or were still fighting were turned to ash where they stood, or at least the ones closest to the explosion were. I saw some whose deaths had not been quick and painless, and their corpses were in a similar or worse state to me. As if sensing my thoughts, Valkyrie joined me in looking at the ruin city I had once called home.

"Yes, this was all Strife's doing. This is the world she wanted to create. A world without light, without anyone who would hurt her and Evelyn. A world as dark and empty as her own."

I sat there, staring lifelessly at the destruction. Evelyn had done just as I had asked. In a matter of minutes, she destroyed everyone and everything precious to me. I was completely, and utterly alone. There was no longer anyone who loved me…no longer a place to call home…no longer a chance for life of peace. Valkyrie had spoken the truth. _This emptiness…this pain…this is Evelyn's world. _In the midst of my sorrow, I realized my healing abilities had started functioning enough that I could now speak.

"Valkyrie…" I said weakly.

My counterpart looked down at me.

"Is there…anyone…else…?"

Realizing I was asking for other survivors, she frowned and shook her head.

"I looked, but all I could find were corpses. There's no one here but me and you."

"I…see…so…I really am…alone…" a thought suddenly crossed my mind. "How…did you…survive…?"

Valkyrie sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Luck. That's all I can really say. The blast hit so fast that I didn't have time to get out of my bed, and the damn thing landed on top of me. It hit me so hard that I blacked out. When I came to, the city was like this."

She looked down and saw me staring at her in disbelief.

"Hey, don't think I didn't have my fair share of injuries. A hospital bed isn't nearly strong enough to stop an explosion of that size. But they were mainly caused by all the debris that fell on me, so they were gone by the time I found you."

I could see the logic behind her words, albeit very weak logic, so I looked back at my crippled form.

"Hey, I know that bad news is really the last thing you want to hear right now, but it can't wait. As I'm sure you've guessed, your injuries were caused by a whole shit ton of hellfire, so your healing factor won't be able to fix you up enough to keep you from dying. I'm no doctor, but I'd say that if we don't get you fixed soon, you won't have much longer before you literally come apart at the seams."

Oddly enough, I didn't feel angry at her. I knew after seeing how bad it was that I was going to die, but for some reason I wasn't afraid of passing on. In fact, I almost welcomed it. Now that I finally have a grasp on the pain Evelyn has been forced to endure, that she still endures, and now that everyone and everything precious to me is gone, I could see no reason to continue living. Even if I survived, it wouldn't be long now before Evelyn's child was born, and if the multiverse was bound to be destroyed when that happened, then why even bother?

"Why?" I groaned.

"What?"

"Why should I…try to save…myself? Don't you see…nothing's left…I have…no reason…to go on living…please, just…just let me…let me die…"

She looked at me in shock, which then turned to frustration.

"What the hell is this? Aren't you the one who never backs down? You were hopelessly outmatched against Strife, and still you continued to face her! This isn't like you at all! What would Axel say if he saw you like this, giving up on life without even trying to get back up?"

Her words silenced any retort I would have made. While I was angry that she would go so far as to use the man I loved to get through to me, I had to admit she had a point. Such a defeatist attitude was unlike me. I had promised to save Evelyn and bring back Shinzo, and even if that meant I had to fight her again, I intended to keep my word. Besides, now I would have to find a way to revive Axel and the others as well. With my determination restored, I nodded as best I could at my counterpart. However, there was still one major problem to address…

"I get it…sorry for being…so cowardly…but how…can I recover…from this? You…said so yourself…my powers…can't heal…such wounds…"

She gave me a look that told me I wasn't going to like what she had planned.

"While it's true that your regenerative powers as half of my kind won't save you, there is still another way. If we become one, like Strife and Evelyn, then the boost you'll get from me might be enough to save you. If that doesn't work, then…"

She paused.

"Then….what?"

She shook her head.

"Nothing, we'll save it as a last resort. Now hold still, this will only take a second."

Valkyrie laid me flat on my back, then walked around so that she was in front of me. My other self straddled me, then began to inch her face toward mine. Right when we were about to connect, her body suddenly started phasing into mine, almost like a ghost. Soon enough, my other self had phased completely inside of me.

"_Alright, that's the easy part. Now get ready, this is were it gets tricky." _her voice called from within my mind.

_What do you mean? _I asked.

"_We've fused mentally, but the physical fusion hasn't happened yet. Normally, it would be over so fast you wouldn't feel a thing. But since your body is on the brink of death, mine is going to try to fuse to you while it repairs itself. Don't mean to sound discouraging, but this is going to hurt. A lot." _

_I…see…well, it can't be any worse than- _

My mental conversation was interrupted as I cried out in extreme pain. Very slowly, my flesh was reconstructing itself and taking on a slightly different form. It was absolute agony as I felt new bones begin to form in my back, slowly sticking out of me and becoming the framework for wings.

"_Just hang in there! We're already halfway done!" _

Despite Valkyrie's attempts to calm me, I couldn't help but scream. It just hurt so bad. It felt as though somebody was peeling my skin off, then sewing on a new one. I could feel my hair growing longer, and the flesh on my wings began to form. My eyes were stinging as they underwent a change of their own, but as to what that could be I was unsure, since Valkyrie and I have the same eye color.

"_Almost there, just a little more!" _

Whatever material composed the flesh on my wings finished, and the pain in my eyes finally stopped. My body ached, but no longer felt like it was being torn apart.

"_It's done…we've become one." _

_You make it sound like we just had sex or something._

The joke was for me, not her. Anything to take my mind off the pain. As it started to subside, I took the chance to try and make it to my feet. It was difficult adjusting to the sudden weight the wings added to my back, but I managed to successfully stand.

"_Okay, so far so good. We still want to take this easy though. Try walking around a little bit, but don't overdo it. Remember, there's two of us in here now."_

_Alright. _

Carefully, I extended my leg and took a small step. I started to stumble, but managed to catch myself in time to keep from falling on my face. It looked like it wouldn't be so bad as long as I took it slow, but out of nowhere a bunch of my cuts reopened and I fell down on my hands and knees.

"_Dammit! I was afraid this would happen. It looks like even though our combined healing factors are working to fix you, the damage was still too severe for it to work."_

_Well what are we gonna do now?_

There was pause, and I thought I heard a reluctant sigh from my counterpart.

"_It seems there's no other choice. If our healing factors aren't enough, then there's only one way to save us now. You have to feed." _

I stiffened at this. I knew exactly what she meant. Valkyrie was asking me to embrace my vampiric heritage, to drink the blood of someone. I had only done it once before, and had not enjoyed the experience. I vowed afterward that I would never feed again, regardless of the affects the withdrawal would have on me. To feed again, even if it was to save my life…I'm not sure if I could do it. Rather, I fear what would become of me if I tasted blood once more.

"_I understand your concerns on the idea, but you have to do it. I'm sorry, but it's the only way now."_

As much as I wanted to deny it, to argue that there was still another way, I knew Valkyrie was telling the truth. Solemnly, I accepted what I had to do.

_I know…I'll do it…but after this, I'll never do it again._

Now the only problem was to find someone to feed on. Everywhere I looked, all the bodies I could find were burned to a crisp. They were probably nothing more than smoldering dust now, with no blood left to drink. Feeling more injuries reopen and bleed, I began to lose hope. Until, I heard some muffled noises coming from a rubble pile not far away. I quickly dragged myself to the pile and looked. Just as I had suspected, someone was still alive. Still full of blood for the taking. Shaking off my sudden and strange hunger, I moved aside some of the rubble. Lying beneath me was a man whose arms and legs had been crushed under a massive chunk of a building, and whose entire left side had been burnt. The man looked up at me in fear.

"C-Commander Takanashi?!" he stuttered in a rough voice.

With a start, I recognized him as the man who had constantly badmouthed Evelyn, even after I had given him a warning to get his act together. Any fear I had about taking someone's life to save my own disappeared under a rising anger. Without even giving the man an answer, I turned his head so his neck was exposed, bared my fangs, and bit down. I could hear him gasp and cry out in pain as I drained him, but his pleas to let go fell on deaf ears. Even though he was scum, his blood tasted…delicious. After about a liter or so of his life fluids entered my system, my body finally finished repairing itself.

"_Okay, we're good to go. Now just let the poor sod go, and we can be on our way."_

I continued to drain my victim. Somehow, the taste was becoming addicting.

"_Hisana, that's enough! He's going to die anyways, just let go!"_

_No…_

"_What?"_

_If he's going to die, then I might as well take all of it…_

I could feel a sense of uncertainty from my counterpart.

"_Hey…what's wrong with you? Weren't you against this? Didn't you promise not to do it any more than was necessary?"_

_I'm a vampire, doesn't that mean doing this is a necessity? Besides, blood actually tastes pretty good…I could get used to this… _

Valkyrie sounded like she was about to protest again, when suddenly she stopped. I suddenly felt cold metal against my neck.

"That's quite enough, Ms. Takanashi." a woman's voice said.

Startled and annoyed at being interrupted while eating, I released my prey and shoved the weapon away from me. Standing up, I found myself face to face with a woman somewhat taller than me with shoulder length dark hair and green eyes wearing a leather jacket and pants. She held a large silver mace in one hand, which she kept ready to use at a moments notice. Though I had never seen her before in my life, something seemed oddly familiar about her. Especially her attire and the coloring of her weapon.

"Who…who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Fumeiyona Shosetsuka. I've come to take you somewhere safe."

* * *

Fumeiyona took me to where she lived with her mother, an elven woman named Hikari who had red hair and green eyes. The two of them were the wife and daughter of Kurai Shosetsuka, a sword smith and strong warrior who I had come to trust, despite the guilt he had felt for telling of the prophecy he had foreseen. As I had suspected, Kurai had not survived the battle, and his killer had taken his sword with them. Both Fumeiyona and Hikari were saddened by this, and after what I had recently gone through, I could offer my sympathies. Apparently, Hikari had sensed something terrible was about to happen, so she had sent Fumeiyona to check on her husband. By the time Fumeiyona arrived, Strife was just unleashing the attack that destroyed Windbloom. The shockwave rendered her unconscious, and when she came to the city was gone. That's when she found me. I asked her if she had seen any other survivors, but she said there were none.

"The only things in that city were death and corpses."

I lowered my gaze in sorrow.

"I see…I'm sorry you had to find me in that state. But, how did you know who I was?"

The dark haired woman's gaze softened.

"To be honest, I thought you were Yomi. You look so much like her it was hard to tell until I heard your voice. By the way, why were you devouring that man like a wild beast? Surely you possess the will to suppress your hunger?"

"I do, it's just…it was the only way I could save myself. This may not be a valid excuse, but the person I fed on was someone cruel who had angered me deeply. My hunger and my anger put aside all reason…"

"You're right," Hikari said. "That's not an excuse. If what you've told me is true, then it seems like you were forced to endure this pain in order to better understand your friend's feelings, not to become a monster like her."

"I know…I shouldn't have let the hunger get to me, but it tasted so good! I couldn't help myself!"

I put my hands on either side of my head as I began to panic.

"Oh god! I don't want to crave blood! I don't want to lose whatever humanity I've got left! How can I save Evelyn and my family if all I am is just another monster?!"

"Calm the fuck down!"

The sudden rise in the short woman's voice shocked me back to my senses. Hikari was standing with her hands on the table, glaring at me. Fumeiyona was staring at her mother in surprise. From what I could tell, Hikari wasn't the type who swore often. I immediately rested my hands at my sides, and sat up straight, waiting for her to continue yelling. A few moments passed, but all Hikari did was sigh and sit back down.

"Sorry about that. But seeing you panicking like that just pissed me off. I'm not saying what you did was right, but you did it because you promised to help someone close to you, right? You can't let something like this stop you now, you've come too far."

The short woman took a deep breath, and her gaze softened.

"Your father was in a similar spot back when Fury was our enemy, and even though she was severely beaten and lost your mother, she didn't give up. She got herself back to top condition as soon as possible, and lead the charge to rescue your mother. I've been told it was quite a sight, how determined she was to protect the person she cared about. Your feelings for Evelyn might be different, but you're pretty much in the same situation."

As I took in her words, a sense of ease began to come over me. I still felt regretful about the way I had thought when feeding, but now I was starting to come to terms with the notion that it was my heritage's fault, and not my own. I took a deep breath and looked back at Hikari.

"Thank you. Sorry for putting on such a shameful display."

The short woman smiled at me.

"Just remember not to do that again. Now, you may already have the answer to this, but I must ask you one last time. Even after all that's happened, do you still wish to save Evelyn and restore your family?"

I didn't even have to think as I responded.

"Yes. I will make the most of my second chance at life to see my promise through."

"Then, if you are resigned to that resolution, I shall help you to become strong enough to see it through."

Fumeiyona shot her mother a surprised look.

"Mother, are you saying…?"

Hikari stood up, and looked straight into my eyes.

"Hisana Takanashi, from this day onward I will train you to become strong enough to face Evelyn and free her from her anger."

I could feel hope rising in me at this, but it faltered a bit, as Fumeiyona sent me a look of sympathy. An unnervingly sinister chuckle brought me back to Hikari, whose eyes were half lidded and had a bright smile on her face.

"This is going to be fun. I haven't had the chance to show my stuff in quite a long time. I can't wait to get started…"

Somehow, a serious sense of dread swept over me as though an aura of pure evil radiated from the short woman. As if flicking a mental switch, Hikari's look of killing intent was almost instantaneously replaced by a warm smile and cheerful disposition.

"Well, that can wait for a couple days. You still need some time to heal, after all. For now, you may rest. Our guest room is the third on the left."

I found myself shaking slightly as I thanked her for allowing me to stay before making my way to the appointed room. It was a mid sized room with a bedroll, a bench with drawers, a bathroom, and a window. Considering the large possibility that I would be spending many days here, I decided it would suffice. Exhausted from travel and battle, I shed what clothing I had and made for the bathroom. Noticing a mirror not far from the shower, I decided to take the opportunity to inspect my new form. Not much had changed from how I usually looked, but what did change was certainly noticeable. My eyes now had ringed irises, most likely the reason why they were in terrible pain during the fusion. The wings on my back were bird like, as Valkyrie's had been, but instead of white they were adorned with pitch black feathers. It could have been my imagination, but it almost looked as though I had gotten a little bigger in the chest area. Sighing to myself, I turned away from the mirror and started the bath. Once I was finished bathing, I got into some night apparel Fumeiyona had been kind enough to provide, and slipped under the covers. I silently prayed that I was mistaken about the fates of the people closest to me whose deaths I did not witness. Nasumora, Oxymi, Tsuyo-sa and her family, and even to Nana, who had been such a good friend to my brother in the short time I knew her. I also prayed that my fallen loved ones would find peace among the heavens. _Mom…Dad…Axel…Nee-chan…wherever you are, please be alright. I promise, I will save Evelyn from herself, I will find a way to get us all back together. _With my resolution in mind, I slowly drifted into sleep.

* * *

_**Hikari and Fumeiyona**_

* * *

As soon as Hisana had gone to sleep, the short elf woman and her tall daughter had silently made their way to the large shed like building not far outside of their house. Hikari exhaled deeply as she stepped into her late husband's workshop, or 'The Armory' as he had so often called it. Sometimes she wondered how she had ever ended up with a man like Kurai, and how she had put up with his antics and endless desire to build stronger weapons and fight stronger opponents. Still, for all his flaws the man had been an excellent father to Fumeiyona, and had even gone so far as to teach her the art of blacksmithing in the hopes that she would succeed him someday. Sadly, that day had come much sooner than the elf had hoped. Hikari then straightened up and lit the forge. This was not the time to dwell on personal feelings, there was work to be done. With determination in her eyes, she turned to her daughter.

"Do you think you can do it?" she asked.

Fumeiyona nodded readily. "Yes. It will take time, but I should be able to forge her a weapon strong enough to give her a chance against Strife."

Hikari couldn't help but feel a sense of pride for her daughter.

"Look at you now, all pumped up and ready to work metal. If only your father were here…he'd be so proud of you…"

Both of them shared a sad smile in a moment of silence.

"Well, I'd better get started." Fumeiyona said after a time.

"Just a moment."

"Yes?"

Hikari paused for a moment.

"Did you look into the others as I asked?"

Her daughter nodded.

"And?"

"It seems there were other survivors, but as to who they are I have yet to find out. Father's far sight ability didn't transition as well to me as I might have hoped."

"I see. And what of Hisana? You touched her, so did you see anything?"

Fumeiyona paused at this, and averted her gaze.

"What did you see?"

The tall woman sighed reluctantly and turned back to her mother.

"It wasn't clear, but all I know for certain is that the fate of the world, of all worlds, will be decided between her and the demon queen."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for making this one a little short. I promise I will address the other survivors in due time, and to continue to write to the best of my ability. As always, please enjoy and don't forget to review! Till next time! DarkNovelist out.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Devil and Rose**

* * *

**The Otherworld, Strife's Fortress, one week later…**

* * *

_**Strife**_

* * *

Sleep. A state of being known to all as a time for rest and recuperation. But for me, I knew no such peace. For me, sleep was when the full strength of Evelyn's will cried out, and thus each night I was haunted by her memories. As always, they began with the first time she became aware of my existence. She had learned about other selves through our caretaker, the woman we knew as Inoue, but she was quite surprised when I first spoke to her. It was on a day she had been bullied by other children calling her a monster and an evil child. I felt her grief, and even though Inoue gave her comfort, she still would not calm down. For Evelyn, she had no one. No friends, no family, only a kind woman who took care of her. But even as a child, Evelyn knew that even Inoue was afraid of her, despite her efforts to conceal it.

"I'm alone…" she had said, curled into a ball at the foot of her bed. "Nobody wants me…nobody loves me…everyone hates me…daddy, please come back… somebody, anybody, please help me! I don't want to be alone!"

"**You're not alone, Evelyn."** I had told her through her mind.

She partially unwound herself and looked around.

"Who…who said that?"

"**I did." **

"Where are you? Why can't I see you? And why do you sound like me?"

"**That's because I am you, another you that exists from within."**

Her interest piqued, Evelyn stood up and began walking toward her closet mirror.

"Another…me? Are you, my other self?"

"**That's right. I am your counterpart, born at the same time as you."**

Staring into the mirror, I was able to cast an image of myself upon its surface so that I could speak with her. She gasped upon seeing me.

"You look just like me…there's barely any difference. You really are my other self. But, shouldn't you have your own body?"

"**If I were like the others of my kind, I would. But you and I are special, Evelyn. Because you were born in the Otherworld, where all other selves come from, I was born into the same body as you. And so, I have always been with you, watching from inside your mind."**

"If you're in my mind, then how come I can see you here?"

"**Because our bond is so strong, and because of the pain in your heart, I am able to show myself to you like this. Until you are free from sorrow and pain, you can talk with me whenever you want. At least this way, you won't be alone."**

Evelyn smiled at me, something which caused me to curl my lips into one of my own. For some reason, seeing her happy made me feel happy…made me feel at all.

"It sounds kinda strange, talking to another version of myself, but if it means I have someone I can trust, then I'll talk to you whenever I feel lonely."

She let out a petite yawn at this, and her eyelids drooped over partially.

"It's late, I should probably get to sleep." she turned toward her bed, then stopped and looked back at me. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! What's your name?"

I paused at this. Until this moment, I had never bothered to think about my name. I had always considered myself little more than a sentient personality within Evelyn, but I had nothing to call myself.

"**I…don't have one."**

Evelyn gave me a sympathetic stare.

"Oh…um, okay. Then I guess for now I'll call you…Didymo*. I know it's not that good a name but, that's the best I can come up with."

"**Didymo…I like it."**

Evelyn smiled at this, then crawled into her bed. She turned off the lights, then gave me one last glance before going to sleep.

As that memory came to an end, another began. Now it was a year later, when we moved to Karakura Town. By now Evelyn had developed into a young adult, and had met the one who we held closest to our heart, our beloved Shinzo. Right now, Evelyn was at a sleepover at the Takanashi residence, occasionally stealing longing glances at the object of our desire as she talked with her two close friends. Because Shinzo had become such an important person to her, most of the negative emotions contained in Evelyn's and my heart had been driven out, leaving my voice weak and often unable to reach her, not that she really talked to me much nowadays anyway. Now Evelyn spent her time studying and thinking about Shinzo (judging by her private actions, the latter more often than the former). She had no need for a voice from within, no need for me. Despite the neglect, I was happy for her. I was happy that someone as kindhearted as Evelyn had finally found a peaceful existence. The girls finished talking after a time, and after splitting up into their respective beds went to sleep. Evelyn had been given the choice of sharing a bed with one of the siblings, so of course she had chosen to sleep with Shinzo. Late into the night, Shinzo's presence had suddenly vanished from our side. Curious, Evelyn quietly got out of bed and searched the small house. It wasn't long before the sound of pained gasps and quiet moans reached our ears, and so we headed toward the source. Upon arriving at the laundry room, where the sounds were coming from, Evelyn ventured a peek inside through a crack in the door. Just as suspected, Shinzo was the one making the sounds, caused by self-inflicted pleasure no less.

"_I never knew she was so naughty…" _Evelyn said through thought. _"Well, I can't really judge, since I do it too. I wonder who it is she's thinking about? Though, it would make me glad if she was thinking of me…maybe she's finally noticed?"_

Evelyn leaned as closely and quietly as possible against the door, listening to our crush pleasure herself.

"Hah…yes…right there…more…" her voice sang out in ecstasy. "Ahhh~…I love you…Hisana…"

The moment Shinzo spoke her sibling's name in place of Evelyn's, something shifted in our heart. It felt as if a part of us had been hurt just then, something began to wither and decay. I could feel Evelyn shudder in disbelief as she dropped to her knees.

"_Did she…just say…Hisana?" _

"_**Maybe you misheard, try listening again." **_I tried.

The emotional wound in our heart had taken so long to mend, I didn't want it to cause her pain again. I didn't want Evelyn to return to her old self, alone and afraid. Desperately, she obeyed my command and looked back at Shinzo. This time, the truth was confirmed. Shinzo held an article of her sister's clothing between her fingers as she plunged them inside herself, and called out Hisana's name as she climaxed. The pain in our heart from earlier began to strengthen, the wound reopened in full force. As tears began to form in her eyes, Evelyn hung her head in sorrow.

"_She loves her sister…her own sister…and not me? Not her best friend? Not the one who has always cherished her, always been at her side? Why? Am I not good enough? Have I not proven my worth to be her lover?" _

Before I could try to comfort her, Evelyn stood up and pushed open the door. Shinzo stared up at us in pure horror. Embarrassment was the least of her worries now, so she made no effort to conceal the exposed portions of her body.

"E-Evelyn?!" she stuttered fearfully.

Evelyn said nothing, she merely stared down at her friend, her long bangs obscuring her eyes, preventing Shinzo from seeing the tears welling up inside of them.

"How much…did you hear?"

"Everything." Evelyn answered coldly. "So, that's how it is…"

The fear in Shinzo's eyes multiplied tenfold.

"I-I can expl-"

"It's okay."

Evelyn's choice of words surprised both me and our love.

"You don't have to explain, I promise I won't tell anyone. Your feelings for Hisana are safe with me. After all, that's what friends are for, right?"

Without waiting for a response, Evelyn turned away and headed back to the sibling's bedroom. Tears of pain fell from her eyes as she made her way back. When Evelyn did return to the bedroom, she glanced over at Hisana. I could feel the anger rising within her, and for some reason, it frightened me. Though my entire existence revolved around her negative emotions, the fact that I had been able to witness firsthand just what those emotions put her through made me detest anything that would cause Evelyn harm. Even if Hisana was one her closest, and only, friends, the fact such a person had taken that which Evelyn held most dear enraged me. Because of this, I made no effort to intervene when Evelyn began to reach for the sleeping girl's throat.

"_Maybe if you weren't around, then she'd love me. Then she'd see!"_

"_**She doesn't deserve Shinzo's love, she should just disappear." **_

"_Yes…she should just die!"_

But, just as Evelyn was about to close her hands around Hisana's throat, she stopped. The anger within her began to slowly fade away, and instead was replaced with sorrow. Slowly, she removed her hands.

"_No…what am I thinking? She's my best friend…how could I do that to her?"_

"_**But she is the one Shinzo desires, she's what's keeping you from being together."**_

"_Perhaps, but…I don't want to win Shinzo's love like that. I promised to be good, to become someone others could trust. And, Hisana doesn't know about Shinzo's feelings, so I can't just blame her. Violence is not the answer, not for something like this."_

Still hanging her head in defeat, Evelyn made her way to Shinzo's bed and climbed beneath the covers.

"_**You would choose to accept this pain? To allow Shinzo to love her own sister in place of you?" **_

"_For now, yes. I know that Hisana will never accept her feelings, so when Shinzo finally does confess, I will be there to mend her broken heart. I must sound cruel, to think of such a plan, but it is the only way to avoid bloodshed. Even if it takes awhile, I will wait for Shinzo."_

Reluctantly, I conceded. To this day, I have never stopped regretting that decision.

The next memory was of the final moments before the man called Marluxia began his invasion. Evelyn, now fully grown, was laying in her bed, amber eyes full of pain and longing.

"It's been two years…rather, it feels like twenty. I've kept her secret, I've endured the pain…and still nothing. Still no sign of her willingness to confess." she spoke in her now matured voice.

With a cry of anguish, Evelyn hid her face in her hands and rolled onto her side.

"How long must I wait? How long must I suffer? How long until she finally sees how much she means to me?"

From there, the memory became that of when Evelyn had just been cast aside by Shinzo before she could admit her feelings.

"_Why…why can't it be me? Why must it be her? Why Shinzo…why won't you let me love you?"_

A sudden screaming reached us, causing Evelyn to pick herself up from the floor. Following the screaming, we stopped around the corner of where Hisana had chosen to rest. The presences of Shinzo and her sister emanated from the room, and judging by the sound of things Shinzo was trying to rape Hisana out of revenge for being rejected. Evelyn did nothing, she merely stood aside and listened while Axel tried to break into the room and help the younger sister.

"I hope she breaks you, Hisana. I hope she makes it so painful that you cry for the rest of your life. Even at the end, you won. Her heart still belongs to you. I hope you enjoy whatever happiness you have left!" Evelyn said to herself as tears of mixed jealousy and sorrow fell.

And from this, to the most important memory of all. The day Shinzo was taken away from us forever. The day Evelyn abandoned all hope of a life of happiness, and allowed me to rule over our body and exact our revenge.

"_She's gone…the person I loved most of all…it's not fair…she finally loved me, she finally accepted my feelings, she even gave me our child…and now she's gone…" _her thought's spoke weakly.

From the depths of our shared subconscious, Evelyn turned to me. Her eyes were devoid of life, holding only broken heart, and a broken life.

"_I feel…cold…as if her death has claimed my life as well…what will become of me now, Didymo? What of our baby? Will it grow up as I did, never knowing the love of both its parents? Are we to die here, so that we may join her in the next life? Tell me Didymo, what should I do?"_

I didn't even have to think about my answer. I knew what must be done.

"_**There is only one thing we can do now. You may have lost all hope, but I have not. If you would allow it, I will take control of our body, so that I may put our troubles to an end. Shinzo did not deserve to die, now that we finally had a future with her. Her death is unforgiveable…she must be avenged! WE must be avenged! The multiverse has turned its back on us, so we must now turn our backs on it!"**_

Hope began to grow in Evelyn's eyes as I continued.

"_**I will grant us the vengeance we deserve, I will bring her back to us, and I will never let you cry again!" **_

Though I yearned to prove that I could keep my word, I still had one last concern. This body belonged to Evelyn, and I would not use it without her consent.

"_**I only ask that you let me use our body, at least until all has been restored to order. Then, once Shinzo is alive and well again, I will relinquish control back to you. These are my terms, what say you, Evelyn?" **_

It took mere seconds for Evelyn to reply.

"_Do it. Make them pay for what they did to us, and what they did to her. I want to see them burn in the fires of our vengeance. I don't care what you do or how you do it, just make them pay!"_

I nodded, and she closed her eyes and switched places with me. While she rested and mourned, I would work to restore our shattered heart and take back the life we lost.

"_**As you have willed it, So shall it be."**_

* * *

Finally, the memories came to an end, and at last I awoke. Much time had passed since I took command of our body, but I had not forgotten my promise. With a sigh, I slowly got out of bed and walked to my dresser. Despite the cruel joy both I and Evelyn had taken in reducing Windbloom to naught but ash, other recent events made it difficult to be happy. Mere days before the invasion, some intruder had stolen away the body of our beloved Shinzo, which had caused me to fight with especial brutality during the invasion. Worriedly, I gazed down at my now quite large stomach. Ryunoko was originally not supposed to be due for another month, but the strain I had put myself under when unleashing my most powerful ability had somehow caused her to develop even faster than before. Now the baby many feared as the child of destruction was due any day. Sighing, I put on my usual attire of midnight blue battle armor minus the face mask, and decided to do a quick check over the rest of the Covenant. Evelyn's father and stepmother had forbidden me from leaving the fortress in my current state, so all I could do was oversee the soldiers as they continued our war with the Agents of Wrath. As I passed a balcony overlooking the courtyard, I couldn't help but smile with pride. What had started out as an army born of hatred and a desire for vengeance had become a revolution. Demons and other outcasted races from across the multiverse now saw me as a symbol of change, a chance to create a world where they would be free of prejudice, and most importantly, free of humans. Once I had fulfilled my promise to Evelyn, we would do just as we had sworn for the others. With that thought in mind, I continued down the halls of my fortress. Suddenly, a foul odor reached me. I recognized it at once, and I could feel my teeth grinding in absolute rage.

"**Alucard." **

How the ancient vampire could still be alive was beyond me, but for now all I could think about was how much I wanted to destroy him. How dare he set in my home, after taking the life of my beloved! I stormed down the halls until I found the source of the scent. Standing in the middle of a hallway was a young woman with red hair, red eyes, a red scarf, a shirt with the words "LIKE A BOSS" printed on it, pants, and sandals. The woman looked over at me with a mixture of fear and regret. Why she would be regretful wasn't important to me, because judging by her scent she was more likely than not Alucard in disguise.

"**You have a lot of nerve coming here, Alucard!" **I yelled as I charged toward her.

Before she could try to escape, I grabbed her by the hair and held her so that we were eye level.

"You've got it all wrong! I'm not Alucard! In fact, I hate him as much as you do!" she protested.

"**Liar! You reek of his scent! I would never forget it!"**

"That's because I'm a vampire _made _by Alucard, and not by choice mind you. Plus, everyone knows Alucard uses guns, and I don't even have a piece on me."

Curious, I decided to reach inside her clothing to feel for a handgun. All I found was a couple of combat knives, and a doll resembling a tall woman in a business suit with long blue hair and glasses.

"**What's this?" **I held up the doll.

"That's my Rip doll! Please don't burn it, it's the only one I have left after she shot the others!"

I was really tempted to destroy the thing just to hurt her, but decided to be lenient as I was curious as to who this strange intruder was.

"**Fine. Now who are you, and what are you doing in my fortress?"**

I set the woman down so she could speak.

"My name is Felicity Ira, and as I said before, I'm a vampire. I came here to tell you something important."

"**Did you, now? Well, I'm afraid it's going to have to wait until after I've broken every bone in your body!"**

Felicity backed away in shock.

"But why?! I'm not your enemy!"

"**Perhaps, but you have defiled my home with the stench of he who murdered my beloved, and for that you will be punished sever-Aaaagh!"**

In the midst of my fit of anger, Ryunoko had kicked with much more force than ever before. I may not be a medical expert, but I had a pretty good idea what that meant.

"**Dammit…at a time like this…"** I looked back at Felicity. **"Good news, vampire. You've just earned yourself a chance to get on my good side."**

"Wait a minute…don't tell me you're about to…?"

I nodded painfully. **"It looks that way. Now alert my parents and the guards, then come to my chambers. I'm going to need all the help I can get."**

* * *

**Wrath's Castle, meanwhile…**

* * *

_**General P.O.V.**_

* * *

The Acolytes made their way to the throne room as quickly as they were able. White Steel Wrath had suddenly called an emergency meeting, but as to why he had not said. While approaching the throne room, Akaxi stopped in front of one of her comrades rooms. After knocking a few times, Xeranov emerged, dressed in her rather revealing evening apparel.

"I heard the announcement. What do you think is wrong?" she asked.

"Not sure, but by the way he was talking it sounded important. I was wondering if you'd like to join me?" Akaxi said warmly.

Xeranov shot her a puzzled look. "But won't he find out then? And wouldn't that get you kicked off the Acolytes?"

Akaxi shook her head. "I'm not afraid anymore, and I don't care if he removes me from my position. That just means I'll be able to spend more time with you."

Xeranov smiled at this and nodded. "Alright then, I'll be right out."

Akaxi nodded, and waited for her to change. Ever since her confrontation with her real self, the No. 6 had tried to be more open about her feelings. It had been slow going, as doubt still held sway over the halberd wielder, but Akaxi eventually worked up the courage to confess to Xeranov. Knowing full well how much Wrath begrudged lesbians, they had decided to keep their relationship as secret as possible. But now Akaxi had finally overcome her fear, and was willing to reveal her bond to the rest of her allies. Xeranov finished changing into her Organization attire, then walked hand in hand with Akaxi for the rest of the way to the throne room. Upon arriving, the pair found themselves to be ahead of most of the other Acolytes, as only Night Terror, Vanitas, and Shyaax were present. Seeing the two women together, Vanitas quirked an eyebrow, but made no attempt to ridicule them.

"What's this? No comments? No mocking jokes?" Akaxi said in surprise.

"Nah, I knew you were a dyke all along. The boss didn't think so though, and now he owes me $20."

The dark boy then turned his attention to Shyaax.

"So, how's that girl you picked up doing? What was her name again?"

"Tsuyo-sa. Her name is Tsuyo-sa Irino." responded the tall nobody.

He had chosen to wear his hood down recently, revealing his dark hair and stern yellow eyes. In appearance, he resembled an adult Vanitas, just with less of an attitude problem and a lot less spiky hair. The dark boy gave him a look of interest.

"Oh? Using her full name even though she's just our prisoner? Tell me, is she still calling you 'Yasha'?"

Shyaax hesitated to respond. "That is…none of your concern."

Before Vanitas could pry further, the rest of the Acolytes entered the room. Esudx took his seat beside Shyaax, and Akuma sat near where Night Terror stood. Wrath entered behind him, followed closely by a female nobody whose attire was stained a permanent crimson with the blood of her fallen enemies. All eyes but Wrath's were set on her as she took her seat on the far end of a table. No one knew much about the strange woman, save that she had some sort of important part to play in the prophecy of the child of destruction. She hardly ever spoke, if at all, but the fact that she was completely unfazed by her bloody uniform made most hesitant to approach her. The few who had seen her fighting abilities firsthand were somewhat frightened by the ferocity with which she fought using her six black serrated longswords. What was more, she wore a sinister smile whenever facing overwhelming odds, as if she welcomed the challenge. Aside from the first time Wrath revealed her face, she had never removed her hood. The Acolytes withdrew their curious gazes as Wrath sat down in his throne. He noticed Xeranov's presence, and the fact that she and Akaxi were holding hands, but even though he knew what the gesture meant, he chose to pay it no heed. _If all goes as planned, it won't matter anyway. _

"Superior," Esudx began. "what is the nature of the emergency? Why have you called us here?"

Wrath rested his chin on his hands as he smirked deviously.

"I've just discovered an important development regarding the Covenant's leader, demon queen Strife. It would seem that the fateful hour is upon us. At this very moment, Ryunoko, the all-powerful child of destruction, has been born unto the worlds."

Gasps rose from nearly every member in the room, save the crimson clad woman, Night Terror, and Akuma. Whispers and concerned voices traveled back and forth across the room. Wrath waited for the commotion to die down before continuing.

"Right now, the demon queen is weakened from giving birth. This is the perfect chance, no, the only chance we have to be rid of her. I will send the Acolyte most suited for the task to eliminate Strife and to bring me her child."

At hearing this, some of the more sensitive members froze in sheer disbelief. Shyaax in particular had difficulty coming to terms with what had just been said._ The superior wants one of us to kill the demon queen, and…to kidnap her child? He expects us to steal an infant from its mother? Why? And for what purpose? _he thought.

"Who would do this?" Akaxi asked, a hint of anger and confusion evident in her tone. "Who would take up such a task?"

Wrath's smirk grew into an especially sinister smile.

"Zonxshi." he said simply.

As if in response, the crimson clad woman rose from her seat and walked to the center of the room. Once again, all eyes were on her as Wrath stood to address her.

"The time has finally come to fulfill your purpose. No one else will be able to kill Strife, and no one else will be able to properly control the child of destruction. You will go to her fortress, you will slay the demon queen, and you will bring me that child."

Zonxshi nodded, and turned toward the exit. As she began to leave, Wrath sat back in his throne and resumed his contemplative posture.

"Everything I've worked for rests on this. Do not fail."

* * *

**Strife's Fortress, not long after…**

* * *

The demon queen let out a tired sigh as she reclined in her bed, her newborn child wrapped safely in her arms. Ryunoko's birth had been a long and excruciating process, but with the help of a surprisingly compliant Felicity and a few nurses, the baby had been safely delivered. It was in this moment of tenderness that Strife allowed Evelyn's emotions to rise above her own. Ryunoko deserved to look upon her true mother's face, after all. So with soft amber eyes the demon queen admired the sleeping child. Ryunoko had white hair with small patches of lavender here and there, pale skin like her father, the beginning of a tail just above her abdomen, and another gift from her father that had initially made discerning the baby's gender difficult. From the brief moments she had opened her eyes, Strife had found the right of which was amber, and the left a mixture of blue and green.

"**Oh Shinzo…she's so beautiful…our baby…our little Ryunoko…" **she said softly. **"I wish you were here…I wish you could see her…"**

Only Felicity had remained at her side. Because the vampire had helped her to bring Ryunoko into the world, Strife had decided to spare her life, on the condition that Felicity come to her aid whenever called upon. Said vampire looked over at the demon queen and her daughter, both now sound asleep in the former's large bed. An unusual feeling of guilt caused her to turn away. _I don't normally like to admit it, but I feel terrible about what I've done to her. If she knew what I did, then I doubt she would have let me live. _Her thoughts were interrupted as a familiar presence reached her senses. Straightening in alarm, Felicity's eyes widened in recognition. _A nobody, here? Don't tell me he's seriously going through with that plan?_ the vampire shot one last glance at Strife and Ryunoko, then left the room.

On the fortress's enormous rooftop, a lone figure clad in a blood red cloak slowly walked across the smooth crystal surface. They came to a halt as Felicity appeared before them, knives already drawn. The vampire glared at her opponent, until she saw the face that lay beneath its hood.

"My god…he really did it…he turned you into one of them…" Felicity said in little more than a whisper. "I can't believe I helped him do this to you…I should have just turned him down."

Zonxshi called forth a pair of her longswords, and held them in preparation for battle.

"He sent you to kill her, didn't he? He sent you to kill Strife and abduct Ryunoko. That sick bastard…did he really take your memories away?"

The only response Zonxshi gave was a quick slash at the vampire's head. Felicity stopped the serrated blade inches from her face, and glared.

"Not listening, huh? Fine, I see how it is. If that's how we're going to do this…"

The vampire backflipped away, then struck her fighting stance.

"Let's dance!"

(Recommended Battle theme: Bayonetta: Red and Black)

Zonxshi dashed toward her opponent at lightning speed, too fast for any normal human to counter. Felicity quickly blocked the strike, then countered with a quick flurry of slashes with her knives. The nobody dodged or parried every blow, right before leaping back and stabbing both swords into the roof.

"Zetsubo no ne." (roots of despair) she chanted in a monotone voice.

Spear tipped black roots burst through the crystal in an attempt to impale Felicity. The vampire quickly leapt aside just as one was about to pierce her chest. Before the nobody could make another move, she extended her scarf so that the garment wrapped around her arms. The attack caught Zonxshi by surprise, allowing the vampire to close the distance and tackle her to the ground. Using her scarf to keep Zonxshi pinned, Felicity reached for her hood.

"This isn't who you are! Take off this lie!"

The nobody below grit her teeth and somersaulted backward, sending the vampire flying away with a quick and keeping her hood intact. Felicity caught her balance just before landing, then sprang toward Zonxshi with knives extended. The nobody ran toward her and threw her swords. As Felicity slowed down to deflect the weapons, Zonxshi summoned another pair to her hands and slashed at her waist. The vampire cringed as two deep gashes were cut into her sides. Stopping for a moment, Felicity spun around and readied her blades. Her injuries were already starting to heal, so she was able to fully react when Zonxshi slashed at her with four swords simultaneously. Seeing a brief opening, the vampire shot out with her foot, striking the nobody square in the chest and making her stagger back. Seizing advantage of the stagger, Felicity then delivered a quick slash at her opponent's head. Zonxshi tried to backflip out of the attack, but did not escape unscathed. Landing a few feet away from the vampire, her shredded hood fell from her shoulders. Long white hair cascaded down the nobody's back, going all the way to just past her waist. Now exposed, Zonxshi rose to her full height and glared at Felicity. Her skin was pale, she had four small backward curving horns on her head, and her eyes were a fierce mixture of red and amber. The vampire felt another pang of guilt as she met the nobody's glare.

"You really don't remember, do you…Shinzo?"

The nobody paused for a moment, then growled and held out her hands. Her four swords began to levitate into the air, and were soon joined by the third and final pair.

"Kuroi toge…no danmaku!" (black thorn barrage)

At her command, the six swords multiplied into thirty six, which then began to fly rapidly at Felicity. The vampire knew the blades were too fast to dodge, so she did her best to parry as many as possible, ignoring the cuts that stray blades left as they passed. Felicity managed to successfully deflect all thirty six blades, but she wasn't safe quite yet. Just as she was preparing to make another strike at Zonxshi, she noticed what looked like black rose petals floating all around her. Realization dawned on her a moment too late as her opponent reached out her hand and spoke.

"Kuro bara no arashi!" (black rose storm)

The petals reformed themselves into the six longswords, all of which stuck into Felicity in varying locations, none of which were fatal but still extremely painful. Against the sudden and brutal attack, the vampire found herself crying out in pain as she was flung off the roof and pinned into a balcony below. Zonxshi leapt down to her opponent, and retrieved a pair of swords with which to strike a killing blow. A faint noise caused the nobody to wheel around with weapons raised towards the balcony entrance. Through a glass door, she found herself looking at none other than Strife and her baby, both still sound asleep.

"Don't do it…" Felicity wheezed from behind her. "Shinzo, please remember who they are, who _you _are!"

The nobody stood completely still, captivated by the demon queen and her offspring. Slowly, she began to lower her weapons, until finally they disappeared altogether. Something about the sight of her targets sleeping soundly awoke something in her, a voice began coursing through her head.

"_Shinzo…I love you…" _it spoke. _"Let's run away from it all…no more fighting…Just you, me, and our baby…I love you…Shinzo…" _

Tears of unknown origin started to form in Zonxshi's eyes.

"Evelyn…" she whispered.

Now free of the swords that bound her, Felicity staggered to her feet, leaning on the railing of the balcony for support.

"Finally remembered, then? I gotta say…you've sure got timing…(cough)"

The nobody made no reply. Her thoughts were still unclear. The only things that were clear right now were those two names. As she stood lost in thought, Ryunoko partially opened her eyes, and seemed to stare at her. Zonxshi froze under the infant's gaze, and watched as it lifted its small hand and tried to reach out to her. The nobody backed away, then leapt back onto the roof. Felicity followed immediately after, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Shinzo, don't you realize this is where you belong? Those people you saw, they're you're family. You have a wife and daughter to look after. Are you just going to turn your back on them?"

"I…I don't know…" the nobody admitted truthfully. "I don't understand any of this…I need time to sort this out."

"But they need you!"

Zonxshi paused again, then shrugged the vampire's hand off her shoulder.

"If what you say is true, then I'll come back to them. But not now…not until I'm certain it's the truth."

The nobody turned back to Felicity one last time.

"Tell them I'm sorry. Tell them…to wait for me."

And with that, she turned and vanished back into the darkness.

* * *

***Didymo = twin**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Chaos**

* * *

**Warring States Era, a month later…**

* * *

_**General P.O.V.**_

* * *

Nasumora Izuriha sat on the porch of the house he shared with Nana and Oxymi, staring contemplatively up at the sky. It had been hard to cope with the destruction of Windbloom, but for the sake of their survival the trio had fled, carried by Nana's vectors until they recovered enough to walk. Mere minutes after they had left the city, it was leveled by an all-consuming explosion of hellfire. Knowing that everything within the blast was destroyed, the trio then set out to find a new home. It had taken some time, but eventually they happened across a world that existed within the Warring States Era of old Japan, However, things were a little different than what was recorded in history books. Instead of the great conqueror Oda Nobunaga, the land was ruled by a woman named Oda Nobuna. Upon entering the land, they were captured and brought before Nobuna to be tried as possible spies. Fortunately, Nobuna had been an ally to the EOT, and thus was shocked to hear of its fall. As a way of offering her condolences, she gave the trio a small home in the more peaceful area of her territory. And so the former Sergeant had been living with his mother and friend there ever since. Nasumora had given up any thoughts of avenging his fallen comrades or trying to strike back at the other factions, for he was all too aware of how powerless a young fighter like himself was when pitted against their armies, to say nothing of the generals like the woman who bested him and his mother. Now he only sought peace, and prayed for the safety of anyone else who might have survived the explosion.

"Nasu-kun!" called a sweet voice from behind him. "It's almost time for dinner!"

The blonde fighter turned around to face Nana, who stood waiting in the doorway, smiling at him. He returned the smile and stood up to join her.

"Yeah, I'm coming Nana."

After they ate, Oxymi decided to head to the market for more provisions. The two younger members of the household reclined in the living room, lying beside each other and enjoying each other's warmth. Normally, they would be consummating their relationship as they usually did since Nasumora had finally worked up the courage to confess his feelings. But recent news had put an air of foreboding over the house, as well as the rest of the world. Even though they were far away from most other civilizations, news traveled fast across the multiverse, and before long every world knew about the child of destruction's birth. A month had passed since then, but there had yet to be any news of mass destruction or what the child even looked like. All anyone knew was her name, Ryunoko. Still, it was believed that the end of all things could begin at any moment, so all were encouraged to treasure what moments they had left. Nana looked over at Nasumora, and he looked over at her. Slowly, their hands crept toward each other, until their fingers were intertwined.

"I'm glad I got to meet someone as wonderful as you, Nana." said Nasumora.

"Nasu-kun…the times I've spent with you have been the happiest moments of my life." Nana replied.

"Nana…"

"Nasu-kun…"

The two young lovers began to inch closer to each other, staring passionately into each other's eyes. Just as their lips were about to touch, a shadow suddenly fell over them, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Surprised they looked up to see a short elven woman with red hair and green eyes wearing a suit of silver battle armor glaring down at them. She had an ornate rapier and a long knife resting on her sides.

"Enjoying ourselves, are we?" she said in a stern maternal voice.

Both lovers were immediately sitting up and staring at the floor, with cheeks beet red in embarrassment.

"E-excuse us." they both stuttered.

Then realizing this was their house, and that the woman was technically intruding, Nasumora glared at her.

"Wait a minute, why are we apologizing? Who are you, and what are you doing here?" then in a slightly quieter tone. "And would it have killed you to knock?"

"Your front door is wide open, and you live fairly far from most other people. Anyway, that's beside the point. My name is Hikari Shosetsuka."

"Wait, Shosetsuka? As in-"

Hikari nodded. "Yes, that Shosetsuka. I'm his wife."

Nasumora's glare vanished in an instant.

"Oh…I see…"

Hikari just shook her head.

"Don't worry too much, this wouldn't be the first time I've had to get by without him. Now, about why I'm here…"

"Is there something you need our help with?"

"Yes. You see, not long after Ryunoko's birth was announced, the Covenant and the Agents went ballistic. Now they're fighting tooth and claw all across the multiverse. What's more, it seems like the fighting has gotten the most intense in a few key worlds, all of which supposedly have a portal that leads directly to the core. Apparently the Agent's leader left for one of those worlds a few days ago, and the guy he left in charge has been pouring all of their resources into a bloodbath of nightmarish proportions."

Both Nasumora and Nana paused in silent alarm at this. Hikari gave them a moment to take it all in before continuing.

"I need your help to put a stop to their madness. If we join forces, we might be able to take down the figureheads of both sides. With their leaders dead or defeated, the rabble that makes up their forces will lose face and scatter."

"You want us…to help you…take down the most powerful evil warriors in existence?" Nasumora said.

"That's right."

The young fighter hesitated for a moment. He shot a questioning glance at Nana. The small girl nodded in reply. Nasumora then turned back to Hikari.

"I'm sorry, but you're asking the wrong person. I've already seen what the enemy is like, and I know for a fact I don't stand a chance."

"Really? Because from what Hisana told me, you took down an Acolyte."

"I got lucky that time, and-wait, did you just say Hisana?"

Hikari smiled. "That I did."

"Onee-san is alive?!"

"As much as she'll ever be. Right now she's taking on the final test of her training, so that when the time comes again for her to face Strife, she'll be ready."

Nasumora went into thought at this. If Hisana was still alive, and was willing to put her life on the line to stop the war, then maybe it wasn't as hopeless as he thought. But then he remembered that he had a responsibility to look after Nana and his mother, and he began to have doubts.

"Nasu-kun?" Nana asked after he failed to respond after two minutes.

"I…I'm not sure…I want to believe that if onee-san is alright, then we have a chance. But still…it's just the four of us, right? How can four people make a difference against such numbers?"

"Actually, if you two join there'll be seven of us. Me, my daughter, Hisana, you guys, and two others I rounded up from a world not that different from this one."

"Those odds don't make me feel much better. I'm sorry, but I won't risk my family's safety for an impossible task."

Hikari let out a heavy sigh.

"No good, huh? Well, I can't blame you for having your priorities straight. Very well, I won't pester you anymore. Thanks for your time."

As the elven woman made to leave, Nasumora stood up.

"Wait a moment!"

Hikari stopped.

"Please give my regards to Hisana. Tell her I wish her luck."

The elven woman nodded, then walked away.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" asked Fumeiyona as her mother arrived at their meeting place.

The weapon smith and two other women stood waiting for her at the entrance to a deep underground dungeon on a dark and mysterious island known as 'Bitterblack Isle'. Fumeiyona had a long item wrapped in cloth slung across her back, the result of her long month of quick but careful blacksmithing. Hikari approached the group with a sigh.

"No luck. Looks like it's just us." she answered.

"So we're a team of five, huh? I haven't been in one of these in a very long time." answered Rao.

The former monarch had initially been reluctant to give up her peaceful life with Homura, but after some 'convincing' from her wife, had agreed to provide assistance for this final battle. Since it was quite possibly the last time she would ever see battle, Rao had chosen to wear her old cloak from when she was a renegade. Though the garment brought back painful memories, it was nonetheless the perfect choice of attire for such an occasion. Her katana sat at her side, ready to be drawn. Homura looked up at the tall woman and smiled.

"I'm just glad you actually decided to go along with this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy our quiet life back home, but it would have been bad of us to refuse to help provide a chance to save our worlds." she said.

Rao furrowed her brow and glanced to the side.

"It's not like I wanted to, I was just kinda bored, that's all."

"Of course you were, dear."

The tall woman stared down at her wife with mischievous intent.

"You better keep your promise when this is all said and done. If you don't, I'll make sure I get what I want in a much more…entertaining way."

Homura felt a rare sense of fear from Rao's words, as she was fully aware that the tall woman was very thorough when it came to matters such as those.

"D-don't worry, I'll keep my promise! I'll do anything you want!"

Rao smirked deviously. "Oh? _Anything_ I want?"

"Anything!"

"Okay then..."

The tall woman knelt down and whispered something in Homura's ear. As soon as she finished, the short witch hunter's face turned red as a tomato.

"Y-You can't be serious?"

"Absolutely."

"But, I don't know if I'm ready for something like that…and what about you? Have you really made up your mind about this?"

Rao nodded. "I've always wanted one or two, but Verona was never too keen on the idea. Something about being too much like their father…"

_I can see the reasoning behind that…_ Homura thought.

"Besides," the tall woman continued. "I'm sure you'll they'll love you as much as I do. And if all else fails, we can adopt."

"As much as I love listening to your marital debates, we have a schedule to keep." Hikari said, no longer entertained by the conversation.

Rao pouted comically, while Homura breathed a sigh of relief. The elven woman then turned to her daughter.

"How's she doing?"

"Actually, I was just about to go check on her. Shall we?" answered the weapon smith.

The others nodded, then made a short climb up into a hidden cleft in the rocky spires of the isle, where an entrance to the bottommost level of the dungeon sat. As the four made the long walk down the staircase, Rao decided to pass the time with talk.

"So what exactly is Hisana's final test?" she asked.

"In the innermost sanctum at the bottom of this isle's depths, there lives a creature by the name of Daimon." Hikari explained.

"He was once an Arisen, a hero of sorts in this land. But, when he was forced to make an impossible choice, he went mad with rage. He damned the gods, damned the endless cycle of death and rebirth that governs this world…and damned himself. Because of his wish to defy the gods, he was cursed and transformed into the monster he is now, and in so doing he lost both his true love and the one he came to call 'mother'. I sent Hisana here to face him, as he is in many ways just like Strife."

The elven woman paused to light a torch as the darkness of the stairway intensified.

"This way, we can kill two birds with one stone. By killing Daimon, he will be free of his curse and will finally be able to pass on. Also, It will give Hisana the resolve needed to face the demon queen. I'm not saying I want her to kill Strife, I know how much she worries for her friend. But if she's not willing to use the strength necessary to subdue her, then she'll have no chance in times to come. We've arrived."

The four looked through a barred gate at a large room illuminated by moonlight. Hisana stood some distance away, dodging and defending against a combination of punches, kicks, and rapid bursts of various magic spells sent at her by a grotesque beast. It was humanoid in appearance, had scaly red and purple skin, wings, a tail, clawed hands and feet, pointed ears, glowing red eyes, and two pairs of black ornate horns adorning its head. Daimon roared as he continued his unrelenting assault on the vampiress. Hisana leapt back as spires of ice rose from the ground in an attempt to impale her. Because her zanpakutou had yet to regenerate, she was fighting with a wicked looking cutlass pried from one of the many corpses that littered the dungeons interior. The vampiress spread her wings and flew to the side just as a barrage of dark magic missiles flew at her.

"**I have raged…and wrought destruction…" **Daimon said in a distorted voice.

The demonic beast held up his hands, and an orb of glowing magical energy quickly formed between them.

"**Naught shall remain!"**

Daimon roared as he directed the orb at the ground. From where the orb collided, a vortex of energy began to swirl with intense force, drawing everything lightweight in the chamber into it. Hisana tried to fly out of the range of the vortex, but found that the energies it released were quickly sapping what stamina she had left. No longer able to withstand the pull of the vortex, the vampiress found herself being flung toward it. Remembering what Hikari told her would happen should she get sucked in, she quickly prepared to counter attack. Just as she was about to enter the inescapable torrent of energy, Hisana latched onto Daimon's face. Too occupied with maintaining the vortex, he was unable to prevent the brutal slice that cut across his eyes and nose. The vortex disappeared as Daimon reeled back in pain, just before collapsing to his knees after another blow struck them. Now that her enemy was stunned, Hisana took hold of her weapon with both hands, jumped high into the air, and with an angry yell brought it down on Daimon's head. The demonic beast flung its head back as blood burst from its fatal wound. Daimon groaned and staggered limply back as blood splattered across the floor of his domain, until at last he fell back and collapsed. Hisana watched as alight began to shine from the center of the beast's chest, and the spirit of a young man bathed in light emerged.

"**At last…I am free of my curse…"** he said with immeasurable relief. **"I can now step beyond the endless cycle, and joined those I lost…sweet Grette…dearest Olra…" **

The spirit closed his eyes, and vanished from the world. Her task completed, Hisana collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. Now that Daimon was no more, the gate restricting the others opened, allowing them to go to their friend's side. Hikari approached Hisana and smiled at her with pride.

"Well done, Hisana. With this, your final test is complete. Now, you are ready."

The vampiress smiled up at the elven woman.

"(pant) Thank you (pant) sensei…(pant)"

"We'll help you get outside. And once we get there, you'll receive your reward for a job well done."

Once they were back at the main entrance, and Hisana had caught her breath, Fumeiyona approached her. The weapon smith drew the long object wrapped in cloth from her back, and unrolled its cover. Beneath the wrappings lay an elegant silver naginata with a radiant pure white blade.

"Hisana, I present to you Fotia Diakopti, the 'fire breaker'. It's blade was forged from the fragments of Tenshi no Shirayuki, and with a little fancy smithing work on my part, it's cold powers have been amplified tenfold. With this, you should be able to stand up to even the most powerful of Strife's flames." Fumeiyona explained.

Hisana stared at the weapon with admiration as she took it into her hands.

"Don't be shy, give it a few swings."

The vampiress obliged, and walked until she was out of range of her allies. She tried a few basic strikes, then some more advanced techniques. It felt perfect in her grasp, as though she had been born to wield this exact blade.

"It's beautiful…you have my greatest thanks, Fumeiyona."

The weapon smith smiled proudly.

"I'm glad you like it. That's probably my masterpiece."

Hikari allowed her daughter to have her moment before speaking.

"I trust you will be able to put it to use when the time comes?" she asked.

Hisana paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Good. Well, I think that's enough excitement for everyone today, how about we turn in? Tomorrow we'll begin the mission."

The others nodded in agreement, and the five of them departed Bitterblack Isle. That night, just before she went to sleep, Hisana made one final promise. When she embarked on the mission, she would rescue Evelyn and put a stop to the war, or die trying.

* * *

**Wrath's Castle, at the same time…**

* * *

Vanitas couldn't help but smile as he watched his army of heartless march across the worlds through a small viewing portal. Since Wrath had left for a world that supposedly held the portal to the Core, he had been left in charge of the Agents of Wrath. There were those who initially objected to having someone so young and so corrupt leading them, but he had suppressed any open rebellion after letting Night Terror run loose for a few minutes. The dark boy reclined in Wrath's throne, chuckling quietly at the glares he received from some. Shyaax and Akaxi in particular sent him looks of barely restricted rage. Akaxi had been forced to strip Xeranov of her rank and weapons, and instead giving her the duty of being Vanitas's personal maid. While the dark boy made no attempt to take what little dignity remained of the former No. 13, he went out of his way to insult her every time Akaxi was present. Were it not for Night Terror, the halberd wielder would take his head. As for Shyaax, he had been given the task of fighting Tsuyo-sa for the dark boy's amusement. Vanitas knew the girl had somehow awoken his dormant memories, and would never raise a hand against him because of her feelings, making it all the more enjoyable to see Shyaax's pained expression as he beat her senseless. _Thank god for her healing abilities, otherwise she would have died from the first blow. _the dark haired nobody thought to himself. Pretty much everyone hated Vanitas, and though he was well aware of this, he didn't care in the slightest.

"Well, this is spectacular, isn't it?" the dark boy began. "Thanks to me, we are now one of the most feared factions in the multiverse. Now that the manipulative prick is gone to who knows where, we can do what we should have been doing from the start: all-out war with the Cobalt Covenant. They're our only real threat, and now we can focus everything we've got on them."

He paused for a moment to glare at Zonxshi, who sat with her head hung low and her eyes downcast.

"We would have been rid of them a month ago, but _somebody _decided to fuck it all up for the rest of us."

The female nobody made no response, and continued to hang her head. Ever since her failure to kill Strife, she had chosen to wear her hood down. The voice that had descended upon her mind had increased in its intensity. Little by little, memories began to reenter her mind. Memories of a forbidden and unrequited love, memories of death and bloodshed, memories of a woman who looked like Strife in human form, following her everywhere she went. From what she could tell, the woman seemed to be very much in love with her, but she was too preoccupied with feelings for another to notice it. It seemed that at some point the woman had taken on the form currently held by Strife, though her eyes were amber, not blue, and through tears of pain and jealousy had finally confessed her true feelings. After that she and the woman had become lovers, and from the sound of things the woman had become pregnant with their child. Then, nothing. The last memory was of her and the woman lying side by side smiling happily at one another. In the midst of Zonxshi's silent recollection, Vanitas got off the throne and approached her, a displeased frown adorning his face.

"I still don't understand what's so special about you. What the hell did he mean by 'you're the only one who can properly control the child of destruction'? You don't even know your own name! Quite frankly, you're no better than Night Terror! Just a mindless, heartless monster whose only purpose is to kill!"

Vanitas summoned his gear shaped keyblade and held it at the ready.

"If you ask me, all you are is a broken toy that no longer has any use! Since there's obviously no more need for you, be gone!"

Before anyone could try to do something, the dark boy swung. Just as his blade was about to strike Zonxshi's head, a sudden flash of light erupted between him and the nobody, causing him to stagger back in surprise.

"What the hell?!" he growled.

Everyone in the room watched as the light vanished to reveal a lone figure clad in glowing white robes. Their hood hid their face from view, but a quick flash of grey eyes and a wicked smile was all they needed to tell who it was.

"No way…boss?" Vanitas said.

The figure merely smirked at him.

"You've been a bad boy, Vanitas. I leave home for a few days, and this is what happens. But then again, superior beings like myself needn't concern themselves with such trivial matters."

"Superior being? Where'd that come from? And why are you dressed like that?" asked Esudx.

"Can you not tell? I have finally become that which I have long aspired to be. I have found that which I seek, and in doing so I have become a god!"

As if to prove his words, Wrath held out a hand toward the distant Core. Instantly, a tremendous stream of power rained down from the center of creation into his hand.

"I no longer have need of you, now that I finally have a servant who can produce results! Come forth, Grigori!"

The godly being projected the energy in his hand toward the outside of the building, converting it into a gigantic sphere. Soon enough, the sphere burst apart, and an enormous red and black dragon emerged. Grigori sat floating for a moment, then his glowing red eyes shot open and he let out a monstrous roar. The dragon spread his wings and began to fly around the floating castle, raining huge fireballs upon it as he flew. The sheer size of the beast caused many of the castle's inhabits to tremble in fear, leaving them fully vulnerable to the deadly flames. Vanitas shook in fear for a moment, then shook his head and glared at Wrath.

"So, you're just throwing us aside then? Well I hate to break it to you, but it's going to take a lot more than just some dragon!"

The godly being simply smirked at him again.

"Whoever said Grigori was your only point of concern?"

Wrath turned toward Zonxshi, who was only now looking up at him. He reached out and put his hand on her head.

"Time to wake up, Shinzo."

A surge of power traveled from his hand into the nobody, causing her to cry out in pain. The memories coursing through her mind began to merge and become clear, along with the rest of her missing past. If it was possible, her eyes widened even wider as realization dawned on her. She remembered everything now, including her recent history as a nobody. As soon as Wrath was done restoring her mind, she tore his hand from her head and glared at him with all the anger in her being.

"You bastard…" she growled. "To make me do that to my own wife and daughter…"

"Sounds like you're back to normal, so I suppose my work here is done. If you wish to face me, you'll have to deal with him first."

The godly being pointed at Grigori as he flew by overhead.

"Unfortunately for you, his job is done as well. I'd say about half of the forces here are gone now, so I leave the rest in your capable hands."

Shinzo slashed at him as he began to laugh insanely, only for Wrath to disappear along with Grigori in a flash of light. With the godly being and his dragon gone, all eyes turned to Shinzo. The snow haired demoness was fuming with rage, and looked ready to lash out at anything that moved. Vanitas scoffed and readied his keyblade again.

"So what if you've woken up? Am I supposed to believe that you pose some kind of threat to the rest of us? You're just one person! No matter how strong you are, you can't beat all of us!"

Shinzo's mixed colored eyes scanned the room. The other Acolytes were either preparing to challenge her, or were slowly backing away.

"I will say this only once: get out of my way, or I will end your lives."

Shyaax, Akaxi, and Xeranov stepped aside and made for the exit. Despite what the rest of their comrades might have thought, the killing look in the demoness' eyes was all the proof they needed regarding how lethal she was. The best thing to do now was to retrieve their friends and loved ones and get as far away as possible. As soon as they were gone, Vanitas charged at Shinzo. Without so much as flinching, the demoness parried his strike and severed his weapon arm. As the dark boy reeled back in pain, Esudx struck with lightning and nunchuks. Shinzo dodged the lethal bolts and ducked under the volley of blows before leaping away to safety. In desperation, Esudx threw his weapon like a spear. Shinzo caught it just before it could reach her, then threw it straight back with twice as much force. Esudx leapt over the weapon and swung with a lightning charged punch. The blow sent the demoness flying into the wall of the throne room, leaving a hole as big as her body behind.

"Hmph, perhaps she is not as strong as she appeared." Esudx declared as he made to investigate the hole.

"Kuroi toge…no danmaku."

Confused by the demoness' words, Esudx was immediately skewered by all thirty six blades. Shinzo slowly walked out of the hole and retrieved a pair of her swords, completely unharmed. Akuma stood waiting for her, a raging aura of red demonic energy swirling around him as he took a stance.

"Now this is more like it! Your next opponent will be me!" he yelled as he rocketed forward with fists raised.

Shinzo made no attempt to dodge as the martial artist sent forth a torrent of fast and powerful punches, kicks, and demonic power blasts. Akuma concluded his assault by delivering a punch that pinned the demoness to the ground, resulting in an enormous flaming kanji imprinting itself in the floor around them as fire exploded from his fist into Shinzo. The martial artist then backed away, but still kept his guard up. There was a smoking burn on Shinzo's back where he punched her. Slowly, the demoness lifted herself from the floor, staggering a bit as she rose to full height. Shinzo glared at Akuma for a moment before dropping her swords and delivering a lightning fast punch to his gut. The martial artist grunted in pain before falling back a step.

"Heh, not bad. I'm amazed you survived my ultimate technique." he said.

"That was your best attack? How disappointing."

The next thing Akuma knew, Shinzo's fist was against his jaw. The martial artist heard several small bones breaking under the intense power of the blow. Before he could recover, the demoness sent her foot through his chest. Vanitas watched from where he sat trembling on the floor as Shinzo kicked Akuma off her boot and started walking toward him. For the first time in his life, he felt truly afraid. Desperately, he released his hold over Night Terror. Now free of control, the demonic beast roared as it flew toward Shinzo. The demoness called forth a pair of her swords in time to stop Soul Edge from cutting her clean in half. As she held back the nightmarish monster, she shot a glance at the cursed sword in its claws.

"I remember that blade…I remember its power…"

Night Terror growled before flying up and raining down a barrage of powerful energy beams from its horn. Shinzo weaved around the beams, then leapt up face to hideous face with the monster. Before it could attempt to counter attack, she drove her swords into its eyes. As it howled in pain, the demoness seized the moment to tear Soul Edge from its grasp. Night Terror removed the blades from its eyes just in time to see Shinzo drive the source of its power through the glowing 'heart' in the center of tis chest. The monster roared as it descended back to the floor, its infernal wings slowly flickering out. Night Terror's limp form crashed into the ground with a loud thud. Soul Edge began to radiate dark energy as Shinzo removed the blade from the monster's chest. Despite the size of the weapon, the demoness held it as though it were no heavier than one of her longswords. Shinzo's eyes started giving off an ethereal glow as the cursed sword began to change shape to suit its new master. Now a pair of longswords composed of flesh and steel, the demoness readied her weapons as she approached Vanitas. The dark boy trembled in absolute fear.

"Impossible…just what the fuck are you?!" he cried.

A small yet sinister smile crept onto Shinzo's lips as she glared down at him with swords raised.

"I am yo**ur greatest nightmare." **

Vanitas's screaming was the last thing she heard as his body was cut to ribbons. Satisfied that no one else was going to get in her way, Shinzo put away her weapons, threw up her hood, and left through the castle's transporter. She knew not where she would end up, but one thing was certain. Whether or not she was a nobody didn't matter, it was time for her to go home.

* * *

**Strife's Fortress, not long after…**

* * *

"Mommy, will you tell me a story?" Ryunoko asked as Strife tucked her in.

Despite being only one month old, the young demon had the body of a twelve year old. Her hair now reached down to her waist, and her tail was now long and covered in black scales. Her ears were long and pointed like her mother's, though her barely budding chest seemed to better resemble her father. Not long after she was born, Strife had gone to some of the elder demons in her army to try and distinguish exactly which kind of demon Ryunoko was. Surprisingly, she had been identified as a succubus, and a powerful one at that. The demon queen was currently putting her daughter to bed after a long day of playing and lessons about the worlds outside the fortress. Strife smiled with soft amber eyes as she responded to the young succubus' request.

"**Of course, my dear. How about I tell you the story of the Angel, the Devil, and the Rose?"**

Ryunoko smiled excitedly and nodded her head. Strife chuckled lightly and sat down beside her daughter.

"**A long time ago, there lived a beautiful Devil who was feared by all and loved by none. The Devil was sad for many years, for she could never find someone to love. Then, one day, she came upon a lovely Rose, more beautiful than anything she had ever seen. The Rose was the first person to ever be kind to the Devil, and they became close friends. Before long, the Devil fell in love with the Rose, whom she treasured more than anything in the whole world…"**

Ryunoko's eyes widened in wonder as she waited for her mother to continue.

"**But, the Rose did not love her back. Instead, she had chosen her other good friend, the sweet and innocent Angel. The Rose was obsessed with the Angel, so no matter how much the Devil tried, she wouldn't listen to her tell her how much she loved the Rose. The Devil became jealous of the Angel, but wanted everyone to be friends, so she chose to wait for the Rose to notice her feelings. She waited for a long time, but she still wouldn't notice…not even a little bit…" **

"Mommy? Are you alright?"

Without realizing it, Strife had begun to shed tears. The demon queen smiled and wiped her eyes clean.

"**I'm fine, just a little water in my eyes. After many years, the Rose finally told the Angel she loved her. But, the Angel had already fallen in love with someone else, and she rejected the Rose. The Rose became very sad that she was not loved, and she began to wither and die. But, before the Rose could disappear, the Devil saved her. Now that it was clear that the Angel did not love the Rose, the Devil decided to confess her true feelings. The Devil loved the Rose with all her heart, and finally, the Rose loved her back. They got married, and planned to live together in happiness for the rest of their days. But, not long after they were married, the Rose vanished. Someone had taken her away…"**

Strife had to stifle back the urge to release more tears.

"**The Devil became very sad. Now she was all alone again, with no one to love her. So she made a promise, that one day she would find her Rose, one day they would be together again, and they would finally live happily ever after."**

"Did the devil ever find the rose, Mommy?"

The demon queen smiled at her daughter.

"**You'll have to wait and find out next time. Right now, it's time for little ones to go to sleep. I have to go to work for a couple days, so I'll see you when I return." **

Ryunoko pouted, but obeyed and got into a comfortable position. Strife leaned over and kissed the succubus on her head, then stood up to leave.

"Mommy?"

The demon queen stopped in the doorway to the room.

"**Yes, Ryunoko dear?"**

"Will I ever get to see my Daddy? I want to meet her someday."

Strife paused for a moment, unsure how to respond.

"**Yes…I'm sure someday soon, you will be able to see your Daddy."**

Ryunoko nodded and closed her eyes.

"Maybe when Daddy comes home, we can be a real family. Then Mommy won't be sad anymore, and we'll always be happy."

It had been an innocent statement made by a child, but nonetheless it touched the deepest emotions within the demon queen's heart. As Ryunoko began to snore softly, Strife closed the door.

"**When your father comes home, I will no longer have a reason to be sad." **she whispered to herself.

Now that the tender moment between mother and daughter had passed, Strife's eyes returned to blue. She had taught Ryunoko about many things life had to offer. In many ways, no different than a regular parent. However, there was one rule that she had always tried to impress upon her daughter. No matter how nice they might seem, humans were their enemies, and were not to be trusted. Out of everything else she told Ryunoko, she had never mentioned the prophecy regarding her as the child of destruction. With fierce determination in her eyes, the demon queen set out for the front lines. According to information given to her by Felicity, Shinzo had been resurrected as a nobody for the Agents of Wrath. However, there had been signs that she was well on her way to remembering her past. It had been the last thing the strange vampire had done for her before departing for parts unknown under the reasoning that she no longer had a part to play in the shaping of the multiverse's fate. _Shinzo…it doesn't matter if you're a nobody or not, if you're alive, then I will find you…please, for Evelyn and our daughter's sake, please come back to me…_

Back in her room, Ryunoko was quietly waiting for her mother to be completely out of earshot before she got out of her bed. Ever since she was an infant, the image of the woman she believed to be her father had haunted her mind, giving her an irresistible urge to seek her out. The young succubus had decided a few days prior that the next time her mother left to fight in the war, she would sneak out and look for her father. _I know Mommy will be mad at me for doing this, but I have to find Daddy. I don't want Mommy to cry anymore, I want her to smile again, just like she used to when I was a baby. If I can find Daddy, then we can finally be a real family! _she thought as she got dressed in a white dress that covered her down to just past her knees. Quickly reaching out with her senses to make sure no one was behind the door, Ryunoko quietly exited her room and made her way down the halls to where the Covenant kept their dimensional travel portal. _Okay, so far so good, now I should be fine as long as-_

"And just what are you doing here, young lady?" said a stern voice from behind her.

…_As long as ojii-san and obaa-san aren't awake. _Ryunoko froze in place and turned to see Yuu and White staring down at her with unamused expressions.

"H-hello ojii-san, obaa-san." she stuttered nervously.

"_**What are you doing out of bed? And in the transportation chamber no less? Your mother won't be happy when she hears about this, you know."**_ White chided.

"But if you go back to bed now, we'll just let you off with a warning." Yuu proposed.

Ryunoko paused for a moment, then an idea formed in her head. The succubus stared straight into the eyes of her grandparents and focused. Before long, a bright blush spread across both Yuu and White's cheeks. The two older women glanced at each other.

"_**Yuu, I don't know why, but…I'm getting really turned on." **_White whispered.

"Me too…but we can't do anything in front of Ryunoko."

"_**Then let's go back to our room. We can do anything we want there."**_

"Good idea."

Yuu turned back to Ryunoko, who was pretending she hadn't heard what they said.

"You make sure to go back to bed now, alright?" she said as strictly as possible, which considering her current condition wasn't really strict at all.

"Okay, ojii-san." the succubus said innocently.

The two older women accepted the answer, then ran so fast back to their private quarters that they left dust trails behind. Ryunoko couldn't help but smile at her handiwork. Because she was a succubus, she could charm anyone into a state of arousal or anything else simply by looking into their eyes. For some reason though, it seemed to be twice as effective on members of the same sex. As to why that was, she didn't care. Now free of obstacles, Ryunoko walked toward the open dimensional doorway and paused. She prayed that wherever she ended up, it would be close to her father. Taking a deep breath, she jumped through the portal.

* * *

**On the other side…**

* * *

When Ryunoko emerged, she was standing on the edge of what appeared to be a beach at the base of a rocky hillside. Cautiously, she walked along it until she came across what looked like a small fishing village built along and against the hill. Seeing some villagers, she reached out with her senses to see if they were supernatural beings like her or not. Not a single trace of spiritual energy could be detected from the villagers, which could mean only one thing. They were human. Ryunoko hid behind a rock as a couple of the villagers looked her way. Remembering what her mother told her, humans could act nice, and even be nice, but if they discovered you to be something abnormal, something not like them, their kindness would turn to hatred in an instant. The succubus saw a gate leading outside the village, and felt a bit of hope rise within her. But after quickly glancing around, she found no way to reach it that didn't involve being seen by the humans. Reluctantly, she tucked her tail beneath her dress and slowly walked out from her hiding spot. She made it halfway to the gate before an armed guard noticed and approached her.

"You there, who are you? I've never seen you around here before." he said.

"Um, I'm not from here, just passing through." she answered hesitantly.

"You look a little young to be walking around on your own. What are you doing all the way out here in Cassardis?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Oh? And who would that be?"

"My…Daddy."

The guard's gaze seemed to soften a bit.

"Ah, so you're a lost child then."

"No, not lost, I left to look for my Daddy."

"Then I'd say you're in an awful lot of trouble. A kid like you could get hurt out in the wide world. Come on, let's get you somewhere we can keep an eye on you until we find your parents."

The guard reached for her suddenly, causing her to back away in fear.

"No! Don't hurt me!"

The guard retracted his arm in surprise.

"Calm down, I'm just gonna take you to the local orphanage-"

"But I'm not an orphan! Leave me alone!"

Ryunoko backed away again, and ended up tripping on a rock and falling flat on her back. As she started to get up, she noticed that the guard and several other people were now staring at her in shock. She gave them all confused looks until she realized her tail was now sticking out. Panic started to wrack her mind, and she stood up.

"I-I can explain!" she tried.

The guards behind the one who had spoken to her started to shakily inch their hands toward their swords.

"M-m-m-m-…" a villager stuttered.

"Monster!" one of the guards yelled.

At that, the entire village began to either circle Ryunoko with drawn weapons, or hide inside their homes.

"Wait! I'm not here to hurt you!"

"She must be a demon conjured by the dragon!" someone speculated.

"Quick! Get rid of her before she calls for help!" someone else said.

Ryunoko crouched down and covered her head with her hands as the mob began to close in on her.

"Stop…" she begged.

They came closer.

"Please, stop it!"

The mob was almost upon her now.

"Leave me alone!"

Almost immediately after her last demand for peace, the sound of screams and roaring flames suddenly filled her ears. Too terrified by the noise to look, Ryunoko waited until whatever was happening finished. When all was silent, she slowly stood up and looked around. Everywhere she looked, there was absolute destruction. The entire village was either burning or reduced to smoldering remains. All of the inhabitants were now nothing more than charred corpses. Despite the horror of it all, she felt no remorse about the deaths of the villagers and the guards. _Mommy was right…humans really are our enemies…they really are evil…_ thanking whatever dark power had done this, Ryunoko slowly walked away from the ruined village. Little did the succubus know that the devastation that had befallen the village and everything else for a mile in every direction had been caused by her own hands. At some point during her walk through the fire and scorched earth, she sensed a new and inhuman presence begin to approach her. Turning around, she saw the silhouette of a fairly tall feminine figure wearing a cloak walking toward her. As they got closer, she found that the figure's cloak was colored a familiar blood red, and that a pair of eyes that were both amber and red at once stared fondly down at her through its hood. A bright smile spread across Ryunoko's face, for even though she had only seen the figure once before, she recognized them immediately.

"Daddy…" she said softly.

"My child…" replied the figure in an equally soft voice.

Without a second thought, the succubus ran toward them with arms outstretched.

"Daddy!"

Shinzo threw off her hood as she ran to meet her daughter. The demoness knelt down and pulled her daughter into a tight embrace. Ryunoko returned the hug with equal force, holding on as tightly as possible to her father.

"Ryunoko…it really is you…my daughter…" Shinzo said through tears of joy.

"Daddy…I missed you…I wanted to see you again so badly…"

They remained like this for a time, father and daughter locked in a loving embrace. Eventually, the succubus pulled back to look at her father's smiling face.

"Now we can go home and be with Mommy. Now we can finally be a real family!"

Shinzo nodded happily.

"Yes, let's go home."

The demoness put her hood back on, then lifted her daughter into her arms. Smiling, they walked away from the burning lands, together at last.

* * *

**Shortly…**

* * *

Hisana glared with determination as she soared over the fields of Gransys. While Hikari and the others had engaged part of the main force of Covenant and Agent soldiers, she had been instructed to search directly for Strife. Initially, it had not sounded like a difficult task, as the demon queen was almost always at the head of her army. However, right now she was nowhere to be found. So Hisana had taken flight in order to locate her former friend. Though she did not find Strife, what she did find was an enormous area of land spanning nearly half the continent reduced to smoldering remains, as if struck by some kind of massive wildfire. Considering that Strife was capable of unleashing such an attack, she had decided to search the brunt region. _This doesn't make any sense…when Evelyn used that power, she did it with the intention of destroying Windbloom…_ she thought as she flew. _But there's no coordination here, no fixed area of interest. It's as if whoever did this simply did it to destroy, and didn't care what got caught in the blast._ As she neared the far end of the burnt region, she saw two figures making their way out of the smoldering remains. One appeared to be a child, and the other wore a crimson version of the nobodies uniform. Thinking it to be a spy or a kidnapper of some sort, she descended upon the pair. The nobody and the child it carried stopped in place as she landed in front of them.

"So, you've resorted to kidnapping children? Is it even possible for your organization to stoop any lower?" Hisana growled as she readied her new naginata.

"You there, little girl! What is your name?"

The child clung tightly to the nobody.

"Ryunoko Koutari." she said nervously.

Hisana's eyes widened in shock. _This is the child of destruction? But she's just a little kid…_ she then noticed that the nobody was looking straight at her, as if in a trance.

"Daddy, who is she?" asked the child.

"Hisana…" the nobody whispered.

The vampiress narrowed her eyes.

"'Daddy?' You monster! You've tricked her into thinking you're her parent so you can use her power, haven't you?"

"Hisana, wait! You don't understand-"

"I don't know how you know my name, but I will never forgive anyone who harms Evelyn's daughter!"

The enraged vampiress charged toward the nobody, weapon first.

"Let her go!"

As quickly and carefully as possible, her opponent set down Ryunoko and drew a pair of demonic longswords in time to stop the attack.

"Daddy!" the child cried in concern.

"Ryunoko, stay back! She won't listen to reason now…"

The nobody sent the vampiress flying back with a surprisingly powerful shove.

"So it looks like I'll have to beat the sense into her!"

Hisana quickly caught her ground, then sprang back toward her opponent. The nobody quickly dodged away from her so as to take the fight away from Ryunoko. The vampiress let out a cry of fury as she launched an incredibly fast flurry of strikes with her naginata. Her opponent struggled under the onslaught, but found an opening and used it to smack Hisana with the flat of her blades. The vampiress reeled back from the attack in confusion.

"Yield, I am not your enemy!" the nobody tried.

"You won't trick me like you tricked her! Stop playing and fight for real!"

Again, the vampiress attacked with ferocity and grace. Again, her opponent barely defended against it and struck with the flat of their weapons. It was as if they knew her every move.

"Stand down, Hisana. You cannot defeat me!"

Hisana grit her teeth in frustration, then held her blade horizontally.

"Tengoku tsume mai!" (heavenly talon dance)

The nobody suddenly found themselves under attack by powerful arcs of light that mirrored every movement made by the vampiress. Hisana watched as her opponent struggled against the unfamiliar attack, and saw an opening. One of the arcs managed to disarm the nobody, and with a yell of anger she charged toward them with blade extended.

* * *

She had heard from a scout not long ago that her most hated rival had appeared on the battlefield. Seconds after, Hisana flew into view. Seething with rage, Strife immediately took off to finish what she started at Windbloom. In a way, the demon queen had known the vampiress would survive the explosion. She expected Hisana to return, so that she could finish her off with her own hands. What she had not expected was to find not only her daughter, but her husband's scent as well as she followed her rival. When at last she arrived at where Hisana had landed, she found the vampiress standing in front of a woman in a blood red cloak, staring at their exposed face in pure horror as she ran them through. She had not expected, and definitely not hoped that the limp form that collapsed to the ground in front of her daughter was that of Shinzo. Once again, before her very eyes, her true love had been taken from her.

"DADDY!" cried Ryunoko as she ran to her father's side.

"**NOOOOOOOOO!"** Strife screamed as she joined her daughter.

While the two demons knelt beside the body of their fallen loved one, Hisana stood frozen in shock. _I killed her…I killed Shinzo…I murdered my sister…I murdered her…_ she thought over and over, still trying to register what she had done. Slowly, she turned to Strife and Ryunoko. As Strife cried out in anguish while burying her head in Shinzo's chest, her daughter was on her knees with her hands in her face, crying loudly. The vampiress felt tears of her own beginning to fall as she dropped her weapon.

"What have I done…" she whispered to herself. "Oh god…what have I done…"

The three did not have long to mourn, for soon a monstrous roar sounded from up above them. Hisana turned to see an enormous red and black dragon swoop down and scoop up Ryunoko from where she sat. Grigori hovered in the air above them.

"Mommy!" the child called.

Strife looked up from her lover's corpse to see her daughter caught in the dragon's grasp.

"**NO! NOT HER TOO! NOT MY DAUGHTER TOO!" **she screamed, rising up and summoning her weapons.

"**If you wish to see the child unharmed, then come and face me." **Grigori commanded. **"I shall await you at the Tainted Mountain."**

"MOMMY!" Ryunoko cried as the dragon flew away.

"**RYUNOKO! NOOO!" **Strife ran a few steps after her daughter, then collapsed to her knees.

"**Why…WHY MUST I LOSE EVERYTHING?!"**

The demon queen burst into tears, sorrow overtaking rage. As she wept, a still shocked Hisana walked up beside her.

"I know you can't forgive me…and I know you don't want to hear my voice…" she said slowly.

"But please, you have to get up. We have to save Ryunoko! Once she's safe, then I promise…"

She turned to the demon queen with absolute regret in her eyes.

"You may punish me however you see fit."

With that, Hisana flew off after the dragon. Strife lingered behind for a few moments until at last she stood. Her sorrow began to vanish, and rage unlike any she had ever experienced before begin to erupt within her. Glaring with unrestricted hate, she turned back to Shinzo's corpse.

"**Never again…" **she whispered.

The demon queen picked up one of her fallen lover's swords and turned in the direction Grigori and Hisana had flown.

"**I will never lose either of you ever again…this madness ends today…"**

* * *

"**Well done…Hisana Takanashi…"** Grigori said slowly.

Hisana stood not far away from where he lay dying. Not long after reaching the Tainted Mountain, the dragon had challenged her to battle. It had been a fierce and trying duel, but in the end the vampiress had dealt the killing blow.

"I beat you, dragon. Now where is Ryunoko?"

"**The child of destruction is in the custody of my master, safe within the center of all creation. Once my body has vanished, the gateway to his domain will appear."**

Grigori focused his dimming red eyes on Hisana.

"**Know this, Hisana Takanashi…In my death, you've won a future…but what that future holds for you, for all worlds…even I can no longer tell…"**

The dragon released a final deep groan, then turned to dust as he went limp. A loud rumbling shook the ground around the vampiress as cracks of light began to appear in the ground. As the portal began to open up, a secondary rumbling began to intensify the shaking.

"**HiiiiiiissssssaaaaaaNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" **a monstrous voice thundered over the hills.

The vampiress turned to see a skyscraper sized pillar of hellfire rapidly advancing toward her. Hills and mountains split apart as Strife came charging toward her, her entire body covered in hellfire. The demon queen roared furiously as she leapt at Hisana with Shinzo's sword raised.

"**It wasn't enough to steal her heart from me, was it?! You wouldn't be satisfied until you took her life from me with your own hands! I was too lenient with you before, but this time, there will be no return for you! This time, I will take back what I have lost, from you and from everyone else! This time, I WILL ANNIHILATE YOU!"**

The vampiress could only hold her weapon up in defense as Strife struck at her. Though she blocked the strike, the sheer force behind it caused the ground to split apart, allowing the portal that lay beneath to engulf them both.

* * *

The vampiress and the demon queen slowly materialized into what seemed to be an endless black and white void, with a gigantic sphere of swirling energy hovering some hundred feet above them. Directly beneath the sphere sat White Steel Wrath in a large throne made of black crystal. Floating beside him, trapped unconscious within an orb of some form of energy, was Ryunoko. The godly being smiled wickedly at the two women in front of him.

"Welcome, Hisana Takanashi, Evelyn Koutari, to the center of all creation. What you see before you is the Core of the multiverse we all have fought for these past five months. As you can see, it has chosen to bless me with its endless powers." he began.

"However, despite my position I have yet to gain complete control over the Core. It considers the two of you ideal candidates to gain mastery over it, as it does with me. But, only one of us can have unlimited power. Once I destroy the two of you, I will make sure Ryunoko fulfills her destiny as the destroyer of worlds. And from the ashes of the multiverse, she and I will create a new world! One where I rule above all others!"

"**Bastard! Let my daughter go!"**

Wrath merely chuckled in response.

"Certainly, if you prove yourself worthy enough to fight me for her. Only one of you can decide the fate of the multiverse, only one of you will have the chance to face me for that honor. Now, it is up to you to decided who is more worthy. Fight, as you have always desired to! Fight now, and let the winner decide my fate!"

Hisana glanced at Strife. The demon queen was glaring at her not with blue eyes, but amber. It was not Strife she would be facing this time, it would be Evelyn. Despite the conflicting emotions of both fighters, neither was willing to deny themselves this final battle. The hour for turning back has passed, the worlds will have their answer: vengeance and revolution, or justice and redemption?

* * *

**A/N: Only one more chapter to go after this! Who will win: Evelyn, or Hisana? Please continue reading and be sure to review! Till the grand finale! DarkNovelist out.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Oblivion**

* * *

**Center of all Creation**

* * *

Evelyn stood glaring at Hisana, hellfire raging all around her to the point where the only visible part of her body was her amber eyes, which were overflowing with tears and immense anger. After witnessing the death of her beloved a second time, at the hands of her most hated enemy no less, and after seeing her precious daughter kidnapped, the hatred within the demon queen's heart had almost literally exploded. Her anger now was so great that it revitalized her original will enough to subdue that of Strife's. If this was to be her last battle with Hisana, then Evelyn wanted to fight it with her own hands. Hisana glared regretfully back at her former friend. Despite all of her attempts to make peace, she had completely shattered what remained of Evelyn's heart by killing Shinzo. Now there was nothing she could do to make up for the pain she had caused the demon queen. The only thing she could do now was fight, and pray that if she did manage to overpower Evelyn, she would be allowed to spare her. Then she could deal with Wrath, and with his defeat she would use the power of the Core to right all of her wrongs. Reluctantly, the vampiress readied her weapon. Evelyn tightened her grip on Shinzo's sword and held it in preparation.

"Let's end it here, Evelyn. No one else has to die, just take all of your anger out on me. After what I've done to you, I welcome it." Hisana said.

"**Believe me, I intend to. You've been a thorn in my side for far too long. I'll crush you, and then I'll take back my family. I can promise you that."** Evelyn answered.

"Well then, if you've no more idle chatter, then let us begin the final battle between light and darkness!" Wrath announced from his throne.

The godly being threw up a shield in front of him and Ryunoko, as he knew it was about to get very, very messy. _I'm going to enjoy this…_

(Final battle theme: Dragon's Dogma: Coils of Light Japanese version)

Evelyn struck first, lashing out with a hellfire fueled swing of her sword. Hisana countered with an ice covered swing of her naginata. The two elements collided, sending forth a tremendous burst of steam that blew the two apart. Quickly recovering, the vampiress charged forward and sent a flurry of quick thrusts at her opponent. Evelyn parried some blows, then caught the naginata just under its blade before Hisana could retract it. With a yell, the demon queen pulled her opponent toward her, swinging at her head at the same time. The vampiress narrowly ducked under the strike and spun around, using her wings to knock her opponent away from her. Evelyn growled and called forth an enormous fireball to her free hand before hurling it at Hisana. The vampiress dodged it just before it could collide with her and explode, then called down a gigantic spear of ice in response. Evelyn cut the large projectile in half with a single swing of her sword. Roaring in anger, she then charged toward Hisana and started slashing quickly and wildly. Despite the recklessness of the attacks, the vampiress found herself struggling to defend against the sheer power behind them. Just as a blow knocked her off balance, Hisana leapt back and flew above her opponent. Evelyn glared up at the vampiress as she began to call down arcs of light to strike at her. The demon queen dodged and parried as best she could, but was left wide open for a downward kick Hisana delivered soon after. The blow sent Evelyn skidding back a few feet. Growling, the demon queen dropped her lover's sword to summon her old hook blades attached to long chains. Just as Hisana was preparing to launch another aerial assault, she flung out her blades. The vampiress was caught by surprise, and cried out as the hook blades stuck into her wings. Yanking as hard as she could, Evelyn brought the vampiress back down to the ground. As Hisana struggled to rise, she cried out in immense pain as she felt the demon queen tear her wings from her body. While her opponent writhed in agony, Evelyn summoned her dual spear and held it ready.

"**Fukushu no kokuso!" **(black spear of vengeance)

Her dual spear ignited, and she hurled it with all her might at the vampiress. Despite the intense pain from her recent injury, Hisana managed to rise to her knees in time to slice at the powerful projectile. Metal sparked as her frozen blade cut through the flames and split the spear clean in half. The divided weapon crashed into the ground behind her, exploding in a tremendous burst of hellfire. Trying her best to shrug off the pain, Hisana rose all the way to her feet and readied Fotia Diakopti once more. Evelyn picked up Shinzo's sword from where she dropped it and ran straight for the vampiress. Hisana narrowed her eyes as the demon queen lunged at her. Just before the blow landed, she parried it and sent a barrage of strikes with her naginata and legs. Evelyn cringed as her opponent's foot collided with her face, knocking her back quite a few feet. Giving no time for recovery, Hisana planted the pommel of her weapon in the ground and held her hand out towards Evelyn.

"Shiroi tenshi no shamen!" (white angel's absolution)

At her command, humongous pillars of ice rose to form a circular prison around the demon queen. Hisana closed her hand, and the pillars exploded into large and jagged shards of ice. The shards then proceeded to fly at Evelyn, striking rapidly from every direction. A large cloud of cold mist formed as the projectiles collided and burst. When it cleared, the demon queen's flames had begun to die down, and her body was dripping with blood and deep wounds. Evelyn panted in exhaustion as her regenerative abilities worked overtime to heal her numerous injuries. Weakly, she glared at Hisana before roaring and raising her sword. Hellfire formed along Soul Edge's length, and the demon queen prepared herself for another attack. This time though, Hisana was the one who charged first. The vampiress leapt forward mercilessly attacking and defending against her opponent. The two continued to exchange blow after blow until Evelyn finally pushed her body too far past its limits. After a particularly strong blow, all the strength vanished from her weapon arm. Seeing an opening at last, Hisana drove her blade forward. The demon queen's eyes widened as the cold blade of Fotia Diakopti plunged into her chest, leaving a smoking wound behind. Because the vampiress' weapon was meant to exterminate demons, the injury would not heal, and so it left a smoking black scar where it penetrated. Hisana quickly withdrew her weapon, and her opponent collapsed to her hands and knees. When a few moments passed, and Evelyn had yet to rise, she decided that the battle had been won and turned to face Wrath.

"**No…not yet…" **

Though it had been little more than a whisper, Hisana had heard the demon queen's voice and turned in surprise. Evelyn was resting on one knee now, trying to rise. Her fiery aura began to grow again, only this time the flames were amber instead of blue. The armor adorning her body turned white, and began to take on a bone like appearance.

"**I cannot die yet…I made a promise**…"

Her strength fully recovered, Evelyn rose to her feet. Hisana gasped upon seeing a small hole in the demon queen's body where the scar had once been. Evelyn now wore a suit of skeletal armor that covered her arms, legs, waist, and chest. Her tail had become longer and thicker, and her horns had enlarged enough to obscure all but the tips of her ears from view. Evelyn tightened her grip as she glared with beastly amber eyes at Hisana.

"**I still have a story to finish."**

The vampiress struggled to keep from trembling in anxiety. Her opponent's current form was in a state very similar to that of a hollow, much like Yuu's. What didn't make sense though was the fact that she had retained so much more of a human appearance than her father.

"**Surprised? You should be. I only recently discovered this power thanks to my father. She was a hollow during the time of my conception, so I too am hollow. My body is that of a mixed breed of sorts, a hollow's powers combined with those of a soul reaper, much like you. Beings such as myself were known as 'Arrancar'." **

As if to demonstrate her abilities, the demon queen held out her free hand. An orb of amber colored energy formed in her hand, and in the next instant a Gran Rey Cero exploded toward Hisana. The vampiress was too surprised to react in time, and was struck by the full force of the blast. Slowly, Hisana staggered back to her feet. Just as she finished standing, Evelyn was upon her, swinging Soul Edge in a wild flurry. The vampiress defended against some of the blows, but her quickly failing stamina caused her to take the rest of them. The demon queen scowled as her opponent began to desperately throw everything they had her, retreating as she did so.

"**Hisana Takanashi. Long ago, I considered you to be my friend. You and your sister were the only ones to ever show me kindness, the only ones who made me feel like I belonged. But that kindness was betrayed when I learned of Shinzo's feelings for you." **

Evelyn deflected a barrage of light arcs, then cut Hisana across her shoulder before continuing her advance.

"**I hated you for stealing away the one thing I ever truly desired, I still hate you. But because you were unaware of your sister's feelings, I chose to suppress my anger, and tried to keep on waiting for the day when Shinzo would recognize my love. In that time, I felt immeasurable despair. Though no one had told you directly, there were more than enough signs of how I felt, and how Shinzo felt. You should have seen the truth, but you were still blind to it."**

Hisana yelled in anger before making a desperate lunge at her opponent. The demon queen stepped out of the strike's path, and countered by whipping the vampiress with her tail.

"**When I lost Shinzo, you tried to tell me you understood my pain, when I knew that you did not. So I showed you my pain, I showed you what it meant to lose everything. But still, you do not seem to understand. You pretend to sympathize with others to try and win their hearts, when all you truly do is push them away. And now, you have once again taken that which I hold most dear. You slew my beloved in cold blood, before me and my child. Now, I will do what should have been done long ago."**

Exhausted, the vampiress struck one last time with her blade. Evelyn caught Hisana's wrist as she dodged, and squeezed it with so much force that it broke instantly. The vampiress released her weapon, allowing the demon queen to grab and position it at her heart while she pinned her to the ground with a powerful kick.

"**Hisana Takanashi, DISAPPEAR FROM THIS WORLD!"**

With a final cry of anger, Evelyn plunged both Fotia Diakopti and Soul Edge into her opponent. Hisana's eyes widened to the brim as she silently cried out in agony. Fatal amounts of blood burst from both her chest and mouth as she thudded against the ground before going limp. The demon queen stood there for a few moments, panting as she savored her victory. Then, to her surprise, Hisana's now half lidded eyes turned to gaze up at her. Though barely, her bleeding chest still rose and fell as she breathed.

"This may…mean nothing to you…but still…I must say it…at least this once…" she gasped.

"Evelyn…for all that I've put you through…for all of your pain….for all of your suffering…I…am sorry…"

Her breaths began to get longer and slower, and the vampiress closed her eyes.

"I no longer care…what happens to me…go now…save your daughter…take the Core's power…do what you must…my only request…is that whatever you do…"

Slowly, she rolled her head to the side.

"Live…happily…"

And with that, Hisana Takanashi finally passed from this life. Evelyn remained staring at the dead vampiress for a moment, reflecting over her last words. Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of slow clapping, and she turned to see Wrath smiling wickedly down at her.

"Well done, Evelyn Koutari. I must say I am impressed. Your power exceeds my expectations." the godly being began. "Now that Hisana Takanashi is dead, only you and I are left to battle over control of the Core. However, despite your power, I'm afraid that you've no chance against a god!"

Wrath stood up from his throne, and began to draw in power from the Core.

"Prepare to meet your end, Evel-"

The next thing he knew, the demon queen was shoving her fire clad fist straight through his chest. The godly being staggered back, clutching at his fatal wound and glaring at Evelyn in disbelief.

"No…how can this be?! You cannot best me so easily! I am a god!"

The demon queen grabbed Wrath by the forehead with her bloodstained hand, and glared straight into his eyes.

"**I don't believe in gods."**

A surge of hellfire shot through her hand, setting the godly being ablaze. The demon queen held him within her grasp as he burned, screaming in pain. Only when his body had been reduced to charcoaled remains did she release him. Upon his death, the orb containing Ryunoko vanished. Evelyn caught her daughter just before she touched the ground, and looked over at her sleeping face in concern. Slowly, Ryunoko's eyes opened, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mommy…" the child whispered.

"**I'm here, little one, I've got you. You're safe now."**

Ryunoko smiled lovingly up at her mother, then gave her a look of surprise and confusion.

"**What's wrong?"**

"Mommy, you're glowing!"

Evelyn looked about herself. Her daughter had spoken true, her entire body now radiated the same light that had once shone from Wrath. She began to feel a change within her, as if some form of freedom had just passed over her. _This feeling…this is it…this is the power of the Core…_ the demon queen now had the power to create and destroy as she saw fit. The entire multiverse was her canvas, the lives of all its inhabitants now as small as ants. With this power, she could wreak untold destruction. She could conquer all with but a thought, no one would dare challenge her power. And yet…the demon queen had no interest in any of these. She had taken more than enough lives in her anger, and now she had at last destroyed her greatest rival.

"**The time has finally come. Now, I can have the life I always wanted."** she smiled down at her daughter. **"A life of peace, where I can live in happiness with those I love."**

And with that, Evelyn set about using her newfound godly powers. First, she restored Shinzo to life, as she was when they had married. Then she created a new world that sat apart from all others. A world where the oppressed and the discriminated that had served under her as well as those who were not as fortunate could call home. A world devoid of human life. After relocating everyone, she remembered another promise she had made to Lucy and the Diclonii, and rewrote the laws that governed their race so that all of them were capable of reproduction, and not just Lucy. This way, they could save their species. Once that was finished, Evelyn then wiped the knowledge of multiple worlds from the minds of all but those in her world, and replaced the barriers that kept them divided. She did not, however, repair any damage she had caused to the worlds she had attacked. Instead, she merely revived the local inhabitants, and left them to sort out their lives. Because she had been by her side for her entire life, Evelyn then separated Didymo from her body, and gave the other self a form of its own choosing. (which ended up being eerily similar to her, i.e. a younger duplicate of her with longer black hair and blue eyes being the only real differences) Oddly enough, despite the immense hatred she had harbored for her, the demon queen had also revived Hisana and her boyfriend to live their lives as they pleased in Karakura Town, without any knowledge of Evelyn or Shinzo's existence. When she was finally finished with all of her work, she spread the power of the Core so thin across the multiverse that it would never again be found. Unlimited power was as much a curse as it was a blessing after all. Now she was finally free to live her life, and to do it with the ones she loved by her side.

* * *

**The New World, sometime later…**

* * *

"And so, after many trials the Devil finally found her Rose. Not long after they were reunited, they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. From that day forth, the Devil, the Rose, and their child lived happily ever after. The end." Evelyn finished as she tucked Ryunoko in.

The succubus smiled happily at her mother. "That was a good story, Mommy. Will you tell it to me again sometime?"

Evelyn smiled and nodded.

"As you wish. Goodnight, my dearest."

Ryunoko closed her eyes, smiling, and slowly drifted off to sleep. Now that her mother would no longer cry or be sad, she was as happy as she could be. The demon queen smiled fondly at the sleeping child before quietly closing the door. After making her way down the hallway of their fairly large house they shared with Yuu, White, and Didymo, she arrived at her and Shinzo's bedroom. Her husband was already waiting there, smiling lovingly from where she lay on their bed. The demon queen lay down beside her beloved, gazing fondly at her as she let out a sigh of relief.

"We've been through a lot, haven't we?" she said tiredly.

Shinzo moved closer to her wife and gently caressed her shoulder.

"Yeah…we sure have…"

"I'm so glad to have you and Ryunoko in my life…I've never been more happy than I am now."

"Now we will never part. I will always be there for you and our daughter." the younger demoness chuckled lightly. "I can't wait to see what kind of person she'll grow up to be."

"Speaking of which, I've been thinking…"

Before her husband could ask what about, Evelyn positioned herself so that she was straddling the younger woman. The demon queen leaned down so that she could whisper into Shinzo's ear.

"Want to try for two?"

* * *

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone who's stuck with me throughout this entire series. The fact alone that you took the time to read my work means more to me than you know. I don't know when I'll be writing again, but I promise that I will continue to do whatever I choose to write about to the best of my ability. Thanks for everything, it's been a blast! Hope you enjoyed the final conclusion! **

**Till we meet again, **

**DarkNovelist out.**


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